1. hobbies and interests
2. games
3. chess

The Benefits of Chess
in Education
A Collection
Collection of
of Studies
Studies and
and Papers
Papers
A
on Chess
Chess and
and Education
Education
on
Compiled by:
Patrick S. McDonald
Youth Coordinator for the Ontario Chess Association
Youth Coordinator for the Chess Federation of Canada
2
Table of Contents
Chess in Education Research Summary
5
Dr. Robert Ferguson compiles a series of research papers and summarizes them in one concise paper
Why Offer Chess in Schools?
9
Chessmaster Jerry Meyers offers his views along with some test results and conclusions from those tests.
Some Thoughts on the Educational Merits of the Game Chess
11
Phil Shapiro discusses some of the school-sponsored chess projects underway in the US.
Chess Makes Kids Smart
15
Anne Graham dicusses anecdotes showing many of the benefits of kids learning chess.
Chess Improves Academic Performance
19
An article derived primarily from: “New York City Schools Chess Program” by Christine Palm - 1990
Teachers Guide: Research and Benefits of Chess
21
Another summary of many studies by Dr. Robert C. Ferguson Including many resources for more
information listed.
Scientific Proof: Chess Improves Reading Scores
35
Beverly Byrne highlights a New York City Study.
37
Chess Makes Kids Smarter
Dr. Gerard Dullea reviews studies done over the years.
The Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children’s Minds
39
Dr. Peter Dauvergne of the University of Sydney surveys educational and psychological studies to examine
the benefits for children of studying and playing chess.
47
Chess Is Cool for Kids!
Leopold Lacrimosa discusses Chess and the 5 R’s for Kids
Benefits of Chess for Children
53
Dean J. Ippolito shows how chess has been proven to enhance creativity, problem solving, memory,
concentration, intellectual maturity, self esteem and many other abilities.
The Importance of Chess in the Classroom
57
Michael David Wojcio shares his enthusiasm for the art, the challenge and the benefits of chess.
The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores: District Nine Chess Program Second
Year Report
63
A study undertaken by Stuart Margulies Ph.D.
Study I. The ESEA Title IV-C Project: Developing Critical and Creative Thinking
Through Chess
73
A US federally funded research project undertaken in Bradford PA.
Study III. The USA Junior Chess Olympics Research: Developing Memory and
Verbal Reasoning
81
Another study undertaken near Bradford PA.
85
Chess and Standard Test Scores
A study documenting the effect of participation in a chess club on standardized test scores of elementary
students.
Chess and Aptitudes – Summary
89
A summary of the experiment conducted by Albert Frank in Zaire.
The Role of Chess in Modern Education
91
Marcel Milat recommends the use of Chess in the educational system.
Chess in the Math Curriculum
97
Jude Isabella, Editor of YesMag, Canada’s Science magazine for kids shows the advantages of
adding chess to the regular curriculum.
Chess Anyone? – Chess as an Essential Teaching Tool
101
Brenda Dyck contemplates whether smart kids play chess or chess makes kids smart.
Further Resources
103
References and excerpts from other resources available
3
4
Chess in Education Research Summary
Compiled by Dr. Robert Ferguson
This summary has drawn freely from several sources including Dr. Tim Redman’s Chess as Education:
Character Assassination or Life of the Mind and Robert Ferguson’s doctoral dissertation. The following
studies will be reviewed briefly in this paper.
· Chess and Aptitudes by Albert Frank
· Chess and Cognitive Development by Johan Christiaen
· Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess by Robert Ferguson
· Chess as a Way to Teach Thinking by Dianne Horgan
· The Development of Reasoning and Memory Through Chess by Robert Ferguson
· The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores by Stuart Margulies
· Étude Comparative sur les Apprentissages en Mathématiques 5e Année by Louise Gaudreau
· Playing Chess: A Study of Problem-Solving Skills by Philip Rifner
John Artise in Chess and Education states: “Visual stimuli tend to improve memory more than any other
stimuli; . . . chess is definitely an excellent memory exerciser the effects of which are transferable to other
subjects where memory is necessary.” The following studies offer some hard evidence to support the
claims of Artise and others.
The Zaire study, Chess and Aptitudes, lead by Dr. Albert Frank at the Uni Protestant School (now
Lisanga School) in Kisangani, Zaire, was conducted during the 1973-74 school year.
Frank wanted to find out whether the ability to learn chess is a function of a) spatial aptitude, b)
perceptive speed, c) reasoning, d) creativity, or e) general intelligence. Secondly, Frank wondered
whether learning chess can influence the development of abilities in one or more of the above five types.
To what extent does chess playing contribute to the development of certain abilities? If it can be proven
that it does, then the introduction of chess into the programs of secondary schools would be
recommended.
The first hypothesis was confirmed. There was a significant correlation between the ability to play chess
well, and spatial, numerical, administrative-directional, and paper work abilities. Other correlations
obtained were all positive, but only the above were significantly so. This finding tends to show that ability
in chess is not due to the presence in an individual of only one or two abilities but that a large number of
aptitudes all work together in chess. Chess utilizes all the abilities of an individual.
The second hypothesis was confirmed for two aptitudes. It was found that learning chess had a positive
influence on the development of both numerical and verbal aptitudes.
Chess and Cognitive Development was directed by Johan Christiaen. The research was conducted
during the 1974-76 school years at the Assenede Municipal School in Gent, Belgium.
5
The trial group consisted of 40 fifth grade students (average age 10.6 years), who were divided randomly
into two groups, experimental and control, of 20 students each. All students were given a battery of tests
that included Piaget’s tests for cognitive development and the PMS tests. The tests were administered to
all of the students at the end of fifth grade and again at the end of sixth grade. The experimental group
received 42 one hour chess lessons using Jeugdschaak (Chess for Youths) as a textbook.
A first analysis of the investigation results compared the trial and control groups using ANOVA. The
results showed significant differences between the two groups in favor of the chessplayers. The academic
results at the end of fifth grade were significant at the .01 level. The results at the end of sixth grade were
significant at the .05 level.
Dr. Gerard Dullea (1982) states that Dr. Christiaen’s study needs support, extension, and confirmation. In
regard to the research, he also maintains: “. . . we have scientific support for what we have known all
along--chess makes kids smarter!” (Chess Life, November, p. 16)
Ferguson’s first study, Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess, expanded the
support Dullea referenced. Dr. Ferguson’s ESEA Title IV-C federally funded research project was
approved for three years (1979-82). It was extended for one school year (82-83) at local expense for a
combined total of four years. The primary goal of the study was to provide challenging experiences that
would stimulate the development of critical and creative thinking.
The project was an investigation of students identified as mentally gifted. All participants were students in
the Bradford Area School District in grades 7 through 9. The primary independent variables reviewed
were the chess treatment, the computer treatment, and all nonchess treatments combined. Each group
met once a week for 32 weeks to pursue its interest area.
The first aspect assessed in this study is that of critical thinking. The average annual increase for the
chess group was 17.3% as measured by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. The second
aspect tested is that of creative thinking. While the entire chess group made superior gains over the other
groups in all areas of creativity, the dimension that demonstrated the most significant growth was
originality. Several researchers have found that gains in originality are usual for those receiving creativity
training, whereas gains in fluency are often slight or nonexistent. The fact that the chess group’s gains in
fluency were significant beyond the .05 level when compared to the national norms is an important
discovery.
The Venezuela experiment, Learning to Think Project, tested whether chess can be used to develop
intelligence of children as measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.
Both males and females showed an increase of intelligence quotient (IQ) after less than a year of
studying chess in the systematic way adopted. Most students showed a significant gain after a minimum
of 4.5 months. The general conclusion is that chess methodologically taught is an incentive system
sufficient to accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic
levels. It appears that this study also includes very interesting results regarding transfer of chess thinking
to other areas of study. (FIDE Report, 1984, p. 74)
B.F. Skinner, an influential contemporary psychologist, wrote: “There is no doubt that this project in its
total form will be considered as one of the greatest social experiments of this century” (Tudela, 1987).
Because of the success of the study, the chess program was greatly expanded. Starting with the 1988-89
school year, chess lessons were conducted in all of Venezuela’s schools (Linder, 1990, p. 165). Chess is
now part of the curricula at thousands of schools in nearly 30 countries around the world (Linder, p. 164).
6
Dianne Horgan has conducted several studies using chess as the independent variable. In “Chess as a
Way to Teach Thinking,” Horgan (1987) used a sample of 24 elementary children (grades 1 through 6)
and 35 junior high and high school students. Grade and skill rating were correlated (r=.48). She found
elementary players were among the top ranked players and concluded that children could perform a
highly complex cognitive task as well as most adults.
Horgan found that while adults progress to expertise from a focus on details to a more global focus,
children seem to begin with a more global, intuitive emphasis. She deduced: “This may be a more
efficient route to expertise as evidenced by the ability of preformal operational children to learn chess well
enough to compete successfully with adults” (Horgan, p. 10). She notes that young children can be taught
to think clearly and that learning these skills early in life can greatly benefit later intellectual development.
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell agrees. In his book Your Child’s Intellect, Bell encourages
some knowledge of chess as a way to develop a preschooler’s intellect and academic readiness (Bell,
1982, pp. 178-179).
During the 1987-88 Development of Reasoning and Memory Through Chess, all students in a sixth
grade self-contained classroom at M.J. Ryan School were required to participate in chess lessons and
play games. None of the pupils had previously played chess. This experiment was more intensified than
Ferguson’s other studies because students played chess daily over the course of the project. The
program continued from September 21, 1987 through May 31, 1988.
The dependent variables were the gains on the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) Memory subtest (p<0.001)
and the Verbal Reasoning subtest (p<0.002) from the California Achievement Tests battery. The
differences from the pre and posttests were measured statistically using the t test of significance. Gains
on the tests were compared to national norms as well as within the treatment group.
Margulies’ (1991) The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores: District Nine Chess Program Second
Year Report evaluates the reading performance of 53 elementary pupils who participated in the chess
program and compares their results to 1118 nonparticipants.
Dr. Margulies concluded that chess participation enhances reading performance. The results of the paired
t-test were significant beyond the .01 level. The Chi Square test of the results of chessplayers in the
computer-enhanced and high-scoring nonparticipants were significant at the .01 level.
Margulies’ study conclusively proved that pupils who learned chess enjoyed a significant increase in their
reading skills. Inside Chess (February 21, 1994, p. 3) states: “The Margulies Study is one of the strongest
arguments to finally prove what hundreds of teachers knew all along--chess is a learning tool.”
Étude Comparative sur les Apprentissages en Mathématiques 5e Année by Louise Gaudreau (30
June 1992) has recently been translated and offers some of the most exciting news yet about chess in
education. The study took place in the province of New Brunswick from July 1989 through June of 1992.
Three groups totaling 437 fifth graders were tested in this research. The control group (Group A) received
the traditional math course throughout the study. Group B received a traditional math curriculum in first
grade and thereafter an enriched program with chess and problem solving instruction. The third group
(Group C) received the chess enriched math curriculum beginning in the first grade.
There were no significant differences among the groups as far as basic calculations on the standardized
test; however, there were statistically significant differences for Group B and C in the problem solving
portion of the test (21.46% difference in favor of Group C over the Control Group) and on the
comprehension section (12.02% difference in favor of Group C over the Control Group). In addition,
Group C’s problem solving scores increased from an average 62% to 81.2%!
7
Playing Chess: A Study of Problem-Solving Skills in Students with Average and Above Average
Intelligence by Philip Rifner was conducted during the 1991-1992 school term. The study sought to
determine whether middle school students who learned general problem solving skills in one domain
could apply them in a different domain. The training task involved learning to play chess, and the transfer
task required poetic analysis. The study was conducted in two parts.
Results of the quasi-experiment indicated treatment effects only for the transfer task. Results of the
quantitative-descriptive study indicated treatment effects for all variables among gifted subjects but only
on the number of methods used for students of average ability. Data indicated that inter-domain transfer
can be achieved if teaching for transfer is an instructional goal and that transfer occurs more readily and
to a greater extent among students with above average ability.
Why does chess have this impact?
Why did chessplayers score higher on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as well as the WatsonGlaser Critical Thinking Appraisal? Briefly, there appear to be at least seven significant factors: 1) Chess
accommodates all modality strengths. 2) Chess provides a far greater quantity of problems for practice. 3)
Chess offers immediate punishments and rewards for problem solving. 4) Chess creates a pattern or
thinking system that, when used faithfully, breeds success. The chessplaying students had become
accustomed to looking for more and different alternatives, which resulted in higher scores in fluency and
originality. 5) Competition. Competition fosters interest, promotes mental alertness, challenges all
students, and elicits the highest levels of achievement (Stephan, 1988). 6) A learning environment
organized around games has a positive affect on students’ attitudes toward learning. This affective
dimension acts as a facilitator of cognitive achievement (Allen & Main, 1976). Instructional gaming is one
of the most motivational tools in the good teacher’s repertoire. Children love games. Chess motivates
them to become willing problem solvers and spend hours quietly immersed in logical thinking. These
same young people often cannot sit still for fifteen minutes in the traditional classroom. 7) Chess supplies
a variety andquality of problems. As Langen (1992) states: “The problems that arise in the 70-90 positions
of the average chess game are, moreover, new. Contexts are familiar, themes repeat, but game positions
never do. This makes chess good grist for the problem-solving mill.”
8
Why Offer Chess in Schools?
By Chessmaster Jerry Meyers
1) History
Chess is a classic game of strategy, invented more than 1500 years ago in India. Legend has it
that the ruler of India asked his wise men to devise a way to teach the children of the royal family
to become better thinkers and better generals on the battlefield. Chess was the result. In the
centuries since its invention, chess has spread to every country in the world. While countless
other games have died out, chess lives on. In the United States, it has received endorsements by
many educators, ranging from Benjamin Franklin to former U.S. Secretary of Education, Terrell
Bell. In Western Pennsylvania, more than 70 schools and a dozen libraries offer chess programs,
reaching several thousand students each year.
2) Academic Benefits
We have brought chess to the schools because we believe it directly contributes to academic
performance. Chess makes kids smarter. It does so by teaching the following skills:
Focusing - Children are taught the benefits of observing carefully and concentrating. If they don't
watch what is happening, they can't respond to it, no matter how smart they are.
Visualizing - Children are prompted to imagine a sequence of actions before it happens. We
actually strengthen the ability to visualize by training them to shift the pieces in their mind, first
one, then several moves ahead.
Thinking Ahead - Children are taught to think first, then act. We teach them to ask themselves "If I
do this, what might happen then, and how can I respond?" Over time, chess helps develop
patience and thoughtfulness.
Weighing Options - Children are taught that they don't have to do the first thing that pops into
their mind. They learn to identify alternatives and consider the pros and cons of various actions.
Analyzing Concretely - Children learn to evaluate the results of specific actions and sequences.
Does this sequence help me or hurt me? Decisions are better when guided by logic, rather than
impulse.
Thinking Abstractly - Children are taught to step back periodically from details and consider the
bigger picture. They also learn to take patterns used in one context and apply them to different,
but related situations.
Planning - Children are taught to develop longer range goals and take steps toward bringing them
about. They are also taught of the need to reevaluate their plans as new developments change
the situation.
Juggling Multiple Considerations Simultaneously -Children are encouraged not to become overly
absorbed in any one consideration, but to try to weigh various factors all at once.
9
None of these skills are specific to chess, but they are all part of the game. The beauty of chess
as a teaching tool is that it stimulates children's minds and helps them to build these skills while
enjoying themselves. As a result, children become more critical thinkers, better problem solvers,
and more independent decision makers.
3) Educational Research
These conclusions have been backed up by educational research. Studies have been done in
various locations around the United States and Canada, showing that chess results in increased
scores on standardized tests for both reading and math. A study on a large scale chess program
in New York City, which involved more than 100 schools and 3,000 children, showed higher
classroom grades in both English and Math for children involved in chess. Studies in Houston,
Texas and Bradford, Pennsylvania showed chess leads to higher scores on the Watson Glaser
Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.
4) Social Benefits
In the schools, chess often serves as a bridge, bringing together children of different ages, races
and genders in an activity they can all enjoy. Chess helps build individual friendships and also
school spirit when children compete together as teams against other schools. Chess also teaches
children about sportsmanship - how to win graciously and not give up when encountering defeat.
For children with adjustment issues, there are many examples where chess has led to increased
motivation, improved behavior, better self-image, and even improved attendance. Chess provides
a positive social outlet, a wholesome recreational activity that can be easily learned and enjoyed
at any age.
Why does chess have this impact?
Why did chess players score higher on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as well as the
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal? Briefly, there appear to be at least seven significant
factors:
1) Chess accommodates all modality strengths.
2) Chess provides a far greater quantity of problems for practice.
3) Chess offers immediate punishments and rewards for problem solving.
4) Chess creates a pattern or thinking system that, when used faithfully, breeds success. The
chess-playing students had become accustomed to looking for more and different alternatives,
which resulted in higher scores in fluency and originality.
5) Competition. Competition fosters interest, promotes mental alertness, challenges all students,
and elicits the highest levels of achievement (Stephan, 1988).
6) A learning environment organized around games has a positive affect on students’ attitudes
toward learning. This affective dimension acts as a facilitator of cognitive achievement (Allen &
Main, 1976). Instructional gaming is one of the most motivational tools in the good teacher’s
repertoire. Children love games. Chess motivates them to become willing problem solvers and
spend hours quietly immersed in logical thinking. These same young people often cannot sit still
for fifteen minutes in the traditional classroom.
7) Chess supplies a variety and quality of problems. As Langen (1992) states: “The problems that
arise in the 70-90 positions of the average chess game are, moreover, new. Contexts are familiar,
themes repeat, but game positions never do. This makes chess good grist for the problem-solving
mill.”
10
Some Thoughts on the Educational Merits of
the Game Chess
The movie "Searching for Bobby Fisher" helped make many people more aware about the
educational benefits of chess. The following article discusses some of the school-sponsored
chess projects currently underway around the country.
Berkeley, California
At more than a few schools around the country chess playing is being promoted as an afterschool
activity. One of the most successful afterschool chess projects was launched about eleven years
ago by a parent-volunteer in Berkeley, California.
Elizabeth Shaughnessy, a former chess champion, organized an afterschool chess project at her
children's school in Berkeley. Her chess enrichment project has since expanded to 30 other
private and public schools in the Berkeley area.
New York City
The American Chess Foundation has also been getting into the game, with their "Chess-In-theSchools" project. This latter project promotes chess playing "in inner city schools with high
populations of at-risk children."
Teaming up with the Manhattan Chess Club, the American Chess Foundation helps organize
tournaments and arrange for chess instructors to visit the New York City schools. Teachers have
found that students who become involved with chess develop a much improved attitude to their
academics.
The Palm Report
Back in 1990, the American Chess Foundation funded a study to investigate the educational
benefits that accrue when inner-city students are introduced to chess. A 37-page study was
produced by educational researcher Christine Palm. Copies of this study can be purchased from
the Foundation for $2 a piece. (Including postage). A discounted price applies if you'd like to
order larger quantities of this study.
Here are a few inspiring quotes from the "Palm Report":
"The most wonderful thing about chess is the way it transforms people from the inside out,"
believes John Kennedy, a NYCHESS teacher who spends several hours each week in New York
schools like C.I.S. 166. "Once they're exposed to the instruction, kids get chess fever. And once
they get hooked, their desire to apply themselves soars. The ability to concentrate -- really
concentrate -- takes a quantum leap the minute chess sinks in." p. 14
11
"Then too, there are equally dramatic stories of children blessed by good homes and intellectual
prowess. Along with the troubled kids, there are students like K.K. Karanja, who at age 15 is a
candidate master (the third highest level of proficiency in chess) and the top player in his age
group in the United States. In the simultaneous match played last year against World Champion
Gary Kasparov at P.S. 132, the Bronx, Karanja managed to draw." p. 19
"One of our Special Education students, Tracy Elliott, was featured on the PBS series 'The
Mind.' She was not playing chess when she came to our Special Ed department. When the
camera zeroed in on Tracy's face, what you saw there was hard to describe. There is something
about the expression on her face in that film that lets you know you can't leave her alone. You
have to work with her to help her develop her potential. With chess, it's so easy to see."
Testimony by Florence Mirin, teacher, C.I.S. 166, Roberto Clemente School. p. 25
"Chess is one of the most meaningful things I've ever seen enter the school system. It's a tragedy
the Board of Education can't do chess throughout the schools." Testimony by Oscar Shapiro,
parent of student in P.S. 9 p. 27
The end of the Palm Report gives citations to articles that have been written about the chess-inthe-schools project. One of the most interesting sounding articles appeared in the June, 1989,
issue of Reader's Digest magazine. The title of this article is: "From Street Kids to Royal
Knights."
The Chess-in-Schools Video
Following the old maxim that "seeing is believing," the American Chess Foundation has also
produced an inspiring short video on the New York chess-in-schools project. This eight minute
video is available from the Foundation for $10, postage included.
The video starts off with an interesting quote from Goethe: "Chess is the touchstone of the
human intellect," and then goes on to show live examples of chess-training activities taking place
in the New York City schools.
> One teacher in the video comments: "Chess teaches patience, foresight, long-range planning,
and the ability to find alternative solutions." A special education teacher, Nadine Kee, has the
following to say about chess's influence on her special needs students: "When students start
playing chess, you can see the [academic] improvement immediately. From the first day when a
child learns how to move a pawn, you'll a difference in their attitude, their behavior, and their
success in school."
The video ends with students briefly telling what the game of chess means to them. You can't
help be touched when one of the students earnestly says: "Chess, to me, is like music to a
musician."
12
Educational Literature About Chess
After having viewed the chess-in-schools video and having read the "Palm Report," I was
curious to see what other articles or papers might have been written on this subject. A search
through the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database turned up two papers
that had in-depth discussions on the educational merits of chess.
The first paper I uncovered is a passionate position paper on the educational merits of chess.
Written in 1983 by Oregon junior high principal Ralph L. Hall, the paper contains hauntingly
eloquent remarks about the educational value of chess.
I jotted down notes from a few of the more stirring passages:
"Chess requires that individuals become actively involved in a mentally demanding competition;
its effects are stimulating, wholesome, and healthy."
"Chess is a game of 'quiet intensity.'"
"To the players, the game is like an unfolding drama. Tension builds and a crisis is reached
which decides whether or not there will be a happy ending. The players live through the
emotions of an exciting story."
"Chess masters subject themselves to much the same kind of discipline as that of great music
composers. Success at the highest levels in both art forms comes from: constant practice and
study; memorizing; trying new ideas; developing a unique style; holding to an unwavering faith
in personal ability; and genius."
"Chess success is an intellectual achievement appropriate for schools. It belongs in schools
because: it is a fascinating game; it can provide a lifetime hobby; it has international appeal; it
requires a minimum of resources; and, it demands that participants exercise their best powers of
planning, memory, decision-making, judgment, creativity, and concentration. For these reasons
alone, all schools should be providing opportunities for the learning and practicing of chess."
The second article I uncovered was a 1986 paper, "Chess and Education," by Memphis State
University educational researchers Dianne Horgan and David Morgan. Their writings examine
chess as a game that helps reveal how expertise develops in the human mind:
"We are interested in the more general question of how expertise develops. The classic expertise
literature includes studies of chess. In fact, chess has been called the 'fruitfly' of cognitive
psychology because of its centrality to our understanding of cognition. Chess has been important
in the study of thinking because it pushes human information processing to the limits of their
cognitive abilities." p. 3
13
These researchers also examine chess playing ability as part of the nature/nurture debate. They
were particularly interested in finding whether exceptional chess ability is inherited or learned.
Rather surprisingly, their research revealed that exceptional ability can indeed be learned: "...we
found at Auburndale, as well as at other schools, a particular chess coach consistently produces
strong players, year after year --- even though the specific children move on. In most cases, the
parents [of these children] know little or nothing about chess." p. 5
I chatted on the phone last week with the Foundation and found out that the American Chess
Foundation is not a membership organization. However, if you are interested in supporting their
exciting work, I imagine they would appreciate monetary contributions.
From what I gather, the mission of the American Chess Foundation is to serve as an information
clearinghouse for the promotion of chess. While the Foundation cannot offer financial support to
every school that approaches them for help, they said that they would be eager to help provide
information to people interested in organizing their own chess-in-the-schools projects.
[The information about the Berkeley, CA, chess in the schools program and the American Chess
Foundation's "chess-in-the-schools" project was gleaned from an article by Michael Bassett in
the 08/12/93 issue of Education Daily, "Chess Programs Build Self-Esteen, Reading Skills of AtRisk Kids]
Phil Shapiro
Internet: [email protected]
14
CHESS MAKES KIDS
SMART
By Anne Graham
And, indeed, it really may. Read on.
"My dad got me interested in chess about one or two years ago," seven-year-old Elian Levatino
of Germantown, Tennessee, relates. "I started getting to be good at it, and now I'm teaching a
younger friend of mine who is in kindergarten and some other people at my school. I also went
back and taught my dad everything I know."
It's not as big as Little League or ballet classes, but for many youngsters like Elian (who says he
plays about ten games a day), chess is "neat," "fun," and "better than baseball." And even nonchess-playing parents seem to like what happens when kids and chess are introduced.
Beckie and Rick Levatino, Elians parents, first bought him a chess set two years ago when he
was five. "Elian was having some problems in his Montessori school," Beckie relates. "I went to
observe--they have the two-way mirrors--and saw that he rushed through the math and languagearts activities, trying always to be the first one to finish. I had also noticed that at home Elian
seemed to be fascinated by the game shows on television, where the contestants are frantic to
beat the clock I thought there might be some kind of connection."
Beckie Levatino also observed that in another section of the school, some children were allowed
to go into a hallway and play a quiet game-checkers. "It occurred to me that checkers might slow
down Elian a little, and we tried it with him. He played for a couple of weeks and seemed to like
it well enough. But it wasn't until we bought the chess set and Rick showed him how to play that
he changed his whole modus operandi.
"Elian realized immediately that it was going to take longer for him to play this game," his
mother says. "There are a lot of things to think about. And Elian, who had never liked to play
any game he couldn't win, lost a lot of games. Still, he continued to play. It was just a challenge.
We feel chess has helped him immeasurably, especially in learning how to slow down and
concentrate on one thing."
15
How to learn.
Chess has been challenging kids and adults all over the world for several centuries. Despite the
game's image as a pastime for "brains," it is easy to learn. Most six- and seven-year-olds kids can
pick up the basic rules quickly, and a few children learn to play as young as four.
Families get turned on to chess almost by accident in some instances. Mike Miller of Norfolk,
Virginia, says his two boys picked up the game by reading the back of a cereal box'. "They didn't
quite have all the moves straight," he recalls, "so I helped them. I had played a little in high
school, and when the boys started playing a lot, I got interested again. Shortly after that, my wife,
Sue, got involved. We all play 'now."
Dr. Dianne Horgan, a psychology professor at Memphis State University and mother of two
young chess players, suggests that even parents who know nothing about the game can learn
along with their children. "It can be fun for a parent and child to learn to play together," she
states. "There's no real reason for parents to think they have to be experts before they can sit
down and play with their kids."
Beginners first learn how the board should be turned (a whitesquare in the bottom right corner)
and the names of the pieces. Each player starts the game with sixteen chessmen: one king, one
queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, and eight pawns. One set of pieces is white, the
other set is black.
Learning how the pieces move and capture other pieces takes only a few minutes, although most
beginners haveto keep reminding themselves through the first few games. The objective is
simply to checkmate the opposing king that is, to put the king in a position where he cannot
escape capture.
Losses are inevitable at every level of play. Beginners competing against more experienced
players can expect to lose hundreds of games, if they play enough. Players have to learn to
accept losing and to concentrate on not making the same mistakes twice.
"You can't be put down when you lose," says thirteen-year-old Noah Spaulding of Radford,
Virgirnia "You just keep on trying." A chess veteran, Noah compares the game to tennis. "if you
talk to people who are chess masters, you can see what I mean," he says. "Either you attack, or
you STAY back and WAIT FOR the other person to' make a mistake. When I was trying to
improve my game, I learned not to make so many mistakes, to wait for the other person to make
a mistake."
16
The hidden value.
The value of chess for children may be much more than entertainment and amusement. Many
parents, teachers, researchers, and others are convinced that "Chess Makes Kids Smart" (a slogan
coined by the United States Chess Federation) is much more than an empty public-relations
promise.
Math teacher and chess-club sponsor Jan Brandt, a Richmond, Virginia, Mother of four,
describes chess as "probably the best game there is for developing logical, precise thinking." In
Brandt's view, chess also helps to encourage patience, sharp memory, the ability to concentrate,
problemsolving skills, and the understanding that certain behaviors carry certain consequences,
Pete Shaw, a computer-science teacher, has taught hundreds of kids in Pulaski, Virginia, to play
chess. "It's like turning on switches in their heads," he says. "You feel as though you can watch
the brain working through a window. The game demands both inductive and deductive
reasoning. You see the kid looking at a problem, breaking it down, then putting the whole thing
back together. The process involves recall, analysis, judgment, and abstract reasoning."
A link between mathematics skills and chess skills has been suggested by some researchers in
this field. Jeffrey Chesin, who teaches inner-city kids in Philadelphia, agrees that the thought
processes in math and chess are similar. "But that's not the whole story," he adds. "Youngsters
who are good in chess will probably be good in math or in any problem-solving situation,"
Chesin says, "but kids who excel in math will not necessarily be good chess players."
Children do not have to be particularly bright to enjoy chess. Chesin maintains. "The majority of
the kids I work with would be considered 'average.' Some are below average. But they get
interested, and they work hard at it. Determination is definitely a factor."
For some players, both children artistic. "Chess should be played creatively," Lubomir Kavalek
of Reston, Virginia, maintains. Kavalek, one of the world's top players, believes that "while there
is obviously a certain logic one should follow, there is room for intuition and fantasy, for original
thought, for taking each situation as it comes, rather than always relying on particular rules."
17
Clubs and tournaments.
In some sections of the country, chess booms because of well-organized clubs. Adults who
believe in chess and what it does for kids have worked to provide opportunities even for
kindergarten students to team and play the game. While teachers are often the chess instructors
and sponsors, many times parents or other adults assume part or all of the responsibilities.
Bob Cotter, an elementary-school teacher in Indianapolis, took his team of inner-ciry kids to a
national chess tournament in 1983. "After we won the championship, the kids met President
Reagan, traveled to Japan, and received all kinds of recognition."
Cotter began his program as an after-school learning activity "because these kids didn't have
anything else." He believes playing chess has helped the youngsters not only academically, but
socially. "For one thing, they see that it doesn't matter where you come from; if you set a goal
and never lose sight of it, you can attain it."
Although Cotter's winning team members are all black and all male, he's convinced there is no
difference in the chess potential of girls and. boys. 'At some point, I'd like to take a team of girls
and win the national championship," he says.
Different kinds of players
Some adults involved in thegame say that while boys and girls are probably equal in overall
chess-playing abilities, boys may excel in spatial tasks (which are a part of chess). Girls, on the
other hand, may be more intuitive and creative. Although men have historically dominated the
game, females of all ages seem to be playing now. Both sexes seemed to be about equally
represented at many scholastic tournaments.
Children with special problems can also learn chess. Teacher Pete Shaw sees the game as away
for emotionally disturbed children to learn and practice self-control. "I preach to them that the
mind must control the body. If you don't follow the rules and control yourself, you lose. When
there is a teacher or someone to continue reinforcing the concepts, chess works."
With mentally retarded children, Shaw stresses concentration and pattern. recognition. "In my
mind, all.education is about learning to see and break down patterns. Chess gives these kids
concrete examples of how to do this. It also helps to increase their attention span."
Not every child will like chess. Pete Shaw, who says his primary interest is educating children,
encourages parents who may be considering chess as an appropriate activity "just to think about
whether it would be good. for the child. It's only what chess can do for the child that's important
We don't play chess for the sake .'of chess, but for the sake of the child.
At its highest levels, chess is a game of limitless complexity and depth. But the beauty of the
game is that players at almost any level enjoy its surprises and challenges. The more one plays
and learns about the game, the more absorbing it becomes, Chess players are often hooked for
life.
18
CHESS IMPROVES ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE
Chess has long been recognized throughout the world as a builder of strong
intellects, but only recently has the United States begun to recognize chess's ability
to improve the cognitive abilities, rational thinking and reasoning of even the least
promising children. Chess brings out latent abilities that have not been reached by
traditional educational means. It promotes logical thinking, instills a sense of selfconfidence, and self-worth, improves communication and pattern recognition skills.
It teaches the values of hard work, concentration, objectivity, and, commitment. As
former World Chess Champion Emmanuel Lasker said, "On the chessboard lies
and hypocrisy do not survive long."
In Marina, CA, an experiment with chess indicated that after only 20 days of instruction,
students' academic performance improved dramatically. George L. Stephenson, chairman
of the Marina JHS math department, reported that 55% of students showed significant
improvement in academic performance after this brief smattering of chess instruction.
Similarly, a 5-year study of 7th and 8th graders, by Robert Ferguson of the Bradford, PA
School District showed that test scores improved 17.3% for students regularly engaged in
chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of
"enrichment activities" including Future Problem Solving, Dungeons and Dragons,
Problem Solving with Computers, independent study, and creative writing. A WatsonGlaser Thinking Appraisal evaluation showed overwhelmingly that chess improved
critical thinking skills more than the other methods of enrichment.
Educators at the Roberto Clemente School (C.I.S. 166) in New York report that chess has
improved not only academic scores, but social performance as well. In 1988, Joyce
Brown, an assistant principal and supervisor of the school's Special Education
department, and teacher Florence Mirin began studying the effect of chess on their
Special Education students. When the study began, they had 15 children enrolled in chess
classes; two years later they had 398. "The effects have been remarkable," Brown says.
"Not only have the reading and math skills of these children soared, their ability to
socialize has increased substantially, too. Our studies have shown that incidents of
suspension and outside altercations have decreased by at least 60% since these children
became interested in chess."
19
Connie Wingate, Principal, P.S. 123 in New York, says of a New York City school chess
program, "This is wonderful! This is marvelous! This is stupendous! It's the finest thing
that ever happened to this school. I am most sincere. It has been an absolute plus for the
students who were directly involved as well as for the rest of the school... If I could say
one thing to funders, it would be this. If they ever walked down 140th St. and 8th Ave.
and had the opportunity to see where our children come from, they would know that these
children deserve every single break that they can get. They are trying, through chess, to
apply themselves and do something to better themselves. And that filters into the entire
school and community... More than anything else, chess makes a difference... what it has
done for these children is simply beyond anything that I can describe. The highest scoring
student in our school is a member of the chess team. He became the highest scoring kid in
the school after he joined the chess team. All four are in the top quarter of the school, and
they weren't before. Academically, they are doing much better in class, and it's in no
small part because of chess. Just how they feel about themselves, their self-esteem, makes
them all winners."
Jo Bruno, Principal, P.S. 189, Brooklyn, NY:. "In chess tournaments the child gets the
opportunity of. seeing more variety and diversity. There are kids who have more money
than they have, but chess is a common denominator. They are all equal on the
chessboard. I believe it is connected academically and to the intellectual development of
children. . I see them able to attend to something for more than an hour and a half. I am
stunned. Some of them could not attend to things for more than 20 minutes."
Jerome Fishman, Guidance Counselor, C.J.H.S 231, Queens, NY: "I like the aspect of
socialization. You get into friendly, competitive activity where no one gets hurt. Instead
of two bodies slamming into each other like in football, you've got the meeting of two
minds.- It's strategic, and you use logic to plan an attack scheme Aside from being good
for the cognitive development of these youngsters, chess develops their social skills, too.
It makes them feel they belong. Whenever we get a child transferred from another school
who may have maladaptive behavior, our principal (Dr. Wilton Anderson) suggests chess
as a way of helping him find his niche. It also helps kids learn how to be better friends.
They analyze the game and talk it over afterwards. I even had a couple of kids who never
had much in common start going to each other's houses to play chess and swap Chess
Life magazines. We've got kids literally lining up in front of the school at 6:45 am to get
a little chess in before classes start."
Source for most of the above: "New York City Schools Chess Program" by Christine Palm, copyright 1990.
20
TEACHER'S GUIDE: RESEARCH AND BENEFITS OF
CHESS
By Dr. Robert C. Ferguson
STUDIES
FACTS
ANECDOTAL MATERIALS
WHAT DO EDUCATORS SAY?
WHAT DO STUDENTS SAY?
WHAT DO PARENTS SAY?
CONCLUSION
WHY SHOULD YOU PLAY CHESS? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
NOTES
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
STUDIES
In a 1973-74 Zaire study conducted by Dr. Albert Frank, employing 92 students, age
16-18, the chess-playing experimental group showed a significant advancement in
spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes,
compared to the control group. The improvements held true regardless of the final
chess skill level attained. [1], [2], [7]
In a 1974-1976 Belgium study, a chess-playing experimental group of fifth graders
experienced a statistically significant gain in cognitive development over a control
group, using Piaget's tests for cognitive development. Perhaps more noteworthy, they
also did significantly better in their regular school testing, as well as in standardized
testing administered by an outside agency which did not know the identity of the two
groups. Quoting Dr. Adriaan de Groot: ...``In addition, the Belgium study appears to
demonstrate that the treatment of the elementary, clear-cut and playful subject matter
can have a positive effect on motivation and school achievement generally...'' [1], [3], [7]
In a 1977-1979 study at the Chinese University in Hong Kong by Dr. Yee Wang Fung,
chess players showed a 15% improvement in math and science test scores. [4]
A four-year study (1979-1983) in Pennsylvania found that the chess-playing
experimental group consistently outperformed the control groups engaged in other
thinking development programs, using measurements from the Watson-Glaser Critical
Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. [1], [4], [5], [6], [7], [23]
21
The 1979-1983 Venezuela ``Learning to Think Project,'' which trained 100,000
teachers to teach thinking skills and involved a sample of 4,266 second grade students,
reached a general conclusion that chess, methodologically taught, is an incentive
system sufficient to accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both
sexes at all socio-economic levels. [1], [7], [8], [9], [10]
During his governor's teacher grant from the New Jersey State Department of
Education, William Levy found that chess consistently (1980-1987) promoted selfesteem after a year of exposure. Many students' self-images improved dramatically. [7],
[11]
According to a two-year study conducted in Kishinev under the supervision of N.F.
Talisina, grades for young students taking part in the chess experiment increased in all
subjects. Teachers noted improvement in memory, better organizational skills, and for
many increased fantasy and imagination (Education Ministry of the Moldavian Republic,
1985). [1], [7]
In his 1986 pilot study, Dr. Ferguson found that it is possible to enhance achievement
by focusing on individuals' modality strengths, creating an individualized thinking plan,
analyzing and reflecting upon one's own problem solving processes, sharing his/her
thinking system with peers, and modifying the system to integrate other modalities. [1],
[7], [12]
During the 1987-88 ``Development of Reasoning and Memory through Chess,'' all
students in a rural Pennsylvania sixth grade self-contained classroom were required to
participate in chess lessons and play games. None of the pupils had previously played
chess. The pupils significantly improved in both memory and verbal reasoning. The
effect of the magnitude of the results is strong (eta 2 is .715 for the Memory test gain
compared to the Norm). These results suggest that transfer of the skills fostered
through the chess curriculum did occur. [1], [7], [13]
A 1989-92 New Brunswick, Canada study, using 437 fifth graders split into three
groups, experimenting with the addition of chess to the math curriculum, found
increased gains in math problem-solving and comprehension proportionate to the
amount of chess in the curriculum. [14]
A 1990-92 study using a sub-set of the New York City Schools Chess Program
produced statistically significant results concluding that chess participation enhances
reading performance. [15], [16], [23]
``Playing Chess: A Study of Problem-Solving Skills in Students with Average and
Above Average Intelligence,'' a study by Philip Rifner, was conducted during the
1991-1992 school term. The study sought to determine whether middle school students
who learned general problem solving skills in one domain could apply them in a different
domain. Data indicated that inter-domain transfer can be achieved if teaching for
transfer is an instructional goal. [17]
22
During the 1995-1996 school year, two classrooms were selected in each of five
schools. Students (N = 112) were given instruction in chess and reasoning in one
classroom in each school. Pupils in the chess program obtained significantly higher
reading scores at the end of the year. It should be noted that while students in the chess
group took chess lessons, the control group (N = 127) had additional classroom
instruction in basic education. The control group teacher was free to use the ``chess
period'' any way he/she wanted, but the period was usually used for reading, math or
social studies instruction. The control groups thus had more reading instruction than the
chess groups.
Even so, the chess groups did better on the reading post-test; therefore, the gains in the
chess groups were particularly impressive. [18]
In a 1994-97 Texas study, regular (non-honors) elementary students who participated
in a school chess club showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in Reading
and Mathematics between third and fifth grades on the Texas Assessment of Academic
Skills. [19], [20]
Researchers and educators have questioned what causes this growth. The Venezuelan
study claimed: ``Chess develops a new form of thinking, and this exercise is what
contributes to increase the intelligence quotient.'' [10] More recent researchers
speculate that it is the growth of new synaptic connections. Chess promotes the growth
of dendrites!
Why does chess have this impact? Briefly, there appear to be at least seven
significant factors: 1) Chess accommodates all modality strengths. 2) Chess provides a
far greater quantity of problems for practice. 3) Chess offers immediate punishments
and rewards for problem solving. 4) Chess creates a pattern or thinking system that,
when used faithfully, breeds success. The chess playing students had become
accustomed to looking for more and different alternatives, which resulted in higher
scores in fluency and originality. 5) Competition. Competition fosters interest, promotes
mental alertness, challenges all students, and elicits the highest levels of achievement
(Stephan, 1988). 6) A learning environment organized around games has a positive
affect on students' attitudes toward learning. This affective dimension acts as a
facilitator of cognitive achievement
(Allen & Main, 1976). [21]
Instructional gaming is one of the most motivational tools in the good teacher's
repertoire. Children love games. Chess motivates them to become willing problem
solvers and spend hours quietly immersed in logical thinking. These same young people
often cannot sit still for fifteen minutes in the traditional classroom. 7) Chess supplies a
variety and quality of problems. As Langen (1992) states: ``The problems that arise in
the 70-90 positions of the average chess game are, moreover, new. Contexts are
familiar, themes repeat, but game positions never do. This makes chess good grist for
the problem-solving mill.''
23
FACTS
Chess is part of the curricula in nearly 30 countries. In Venezuela, Iceland, Russia and
other countries, chess is a subject in all public schools. [8]
In Vancouver, BC, the Math and Chess Learning Center, recognizing the correlation
between chess playing and math skills development, has developed a series of
workbooks to assist Canadian students in math. [42]
In Harriet Geithmann's article ``Strobeck, Home of Chess,';' The National Geographic
Magazine, May 1931, pp. 637-652, we find that this medieval village in the Harz
Mountains of Germany has taught the royal game in its public schools for years. Chess
began in Strobeck in 1011. [37]
In ``Chessmen Come to Life in Marostica,'' The National Geographic Magazine,
November 1956, by Alexander Taylor, pp. 658-668, we see an Italian town reviving a
romantic legend of the Middle Ages, in which suitors played chess for the hand of a lady
fair. [43]
The mathematics curriculum in New Brunswick, Canada is a text series called
Challenging Mathematics, which uses chess to teach logic and problem solving from
grades 2 to 7. Using this curriculum, the average problem-solving score of pupils in the
province increased from 62% to 81%. The Province of Quebec, where the program was
first introduced, has the highest math grades in Canada, and Canada scores better than
the USA on international mathematics exams. [19], [20], [40]
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell encouraged knowledge of chess as a
way to develop a preschooler's intellect and academic readiness. [39]
The State of New Jersey passed a bill legitimizing chess as a unit of instruction within
the elementary school curriculum. On December 17, 1992, New Jersey Governor Jim
Florio signed into law a bill to establish chess instruction in public schools. A quote from
the bill states ``In countries where chess is offered widely in schools, students exhibit
excellence in the ability to recognize complex patterns and consequently excel in math
and science...'' [41]
Funding for chess activity is available under the ``Educate America Act'' (Goals 2000),
Public Law 103-227, Section 308.b.2.E.: ``Supporting innovative and proven methods of
enhancing a teacher's ability to identify student learning needs and motivating students
to develop higher order thinking skills, discipline, and creative resolution methods.'' The
original wording of this section included ``such as chess'' and passed Senate that way,
but the phrase was deleted later in Conference Committee. [19]
24
ANECDOTAL MATERIALS
Several articles discuss chess as a tool to assist children of all levels.
Dr. Stefurak, a cognitive neuropsychologist, stated that ``chess instruction informs the
mind and the emotions in such a way as to structure an emergent mental circuit where
motivation and ability multiply to produce achievement in chess and school and life.''
[23]
In December 1996, Arman Tajarobi wrote: ``For the past three years, I've been a
witness to an experiment held in 24 elementary schools in my town: The school board
allowed these schools to replace an hour of math classes by a chess course each week
for half of their students. For three consecutive years, the groups who received the
chess formation have had better results in math than those who did not. This year (the
fourth year), the school board has allowed any school that wants to provide its students
with a chess formation to do so.'' [35]
John Artise (B.S., M.A.) draws upon his years of psychological research in chess to
identify the contribution chess makes in education and learning. He identifies four areas
of growth: memory improvement, logic, observation and analysis, and operant
conditioning. ``Chess and Education,'' John Artise. [31]
The chess program funded by Oakland (California) Youth at Risk program proves to be
an effective vehicle for saving troubled youth. [32]
Chess program in the troubled East Harlem district, New York, also rescues kids from
drugs and gangs. [33]
Saratoga Springs editorial: ``Chess is the last best hope for this country to rescue its
skidding educational system and teach the young generation the forgotten art of
nurturing an attention span.'' [34]
In his book ``Your Child's Intellect,'' former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell
encourages some knowledge of chess as a way to develop a preschooler's intellect and
academic readiness (Bell, 1982, pp. 178-179). [44]
25
WHAT DO EDUCATORS SAY?
``Not only have the reading and math skills of these children soared, their ability to
socialize has increased substantially, too. Our studies have shown the incidents of
suspension and outside altercations have decreased by at least 60 percent since these
children became interested in chess.'' --Assistant Principal Joyce Brown at the Roberto
Clemente School in New York, 1988 [25]
Dr. Fred Loveland, superintendent of the Panama City schools, voiced his opinion:
``Chess has taught my students more than any other subject.'' [26]
The article ``Chess Improves Academic Performance'' from the NY School Chess
Program features a number of testimonies from school principals, including: ``Not only
have the reading and math skills of these children soared, their ability to socialize has
increased substantially, too. Our studies have shown that incidents of suspension and
outside altercations have decreased by at least 60% since these children became
interested in chess.'' [27]
``It's the finest thing that ever happened to this school. ...chess makes a
difference...what it has done for these children is simply beyond anything that I can
describe.'' [27]
``I see them (students) able to attend to something for more than an hour and a half. I
am stunned. Some of them could not attend to things for more than 20 minutes.'' -- Jo
Bruno, Principal, P.S. 189 [27]
Dr. Calvin F. Deyermond, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for
the North Tonawanda City School District, wrote: ``Chess develops intellectual, esthetic,
sporting, decision making, concentration, and perseverance skills. We have seen the
effects of this wonderful game in our classroom and as an extracurricular activity. Not
only is it mentally challenging but it attracts not only gifted pupils but also students at all
levels of learning. Many students who have been experiencing problems, particularly in
mathematics and reading, sometimes demonstrate remarkable progress after learning
chess.'' [28]
Rob Roy of Connecticut: ``Children with special problems can also learn chess. I taught
a successful course for emotionally and educationally disadvantaged children in the
Waterbury schools and used chess as a way for them to learn and practice selfcontrol.It was like turning on switches in their heads. You see the child looking at a
problem, breaking it down, and then putting the whole thing back together. The process
involves recall, analysis, judgment and abstract reasoning.'' [38]
26
Public School 68 in the Bronx noted standardized scores increased 11.2% in reading
and 18.6% in math during the 1994-95 school year. Principal Cheryl Coles wrote: ``As
encouraging as our scores are, the benefits of our Chess Education Program far
exceeded anything that these scores could ever hope to indicate. There were significant
outgrowths in varying degrees in all curriculum areas. Such as: increased enthusiasm
for learning, increase in general fund of knowledge, increase in pupil attendance,
increase in self-confidence, increase in parent involvement, etc.'' [29]
Beulah McMeans, a guidance counselor at Morningside Elementary School in Prince
George's County, MD, uses chess ``to help raise the self-esteem and higher order
thinking skills for young students, particularly those at risk.'' [30]
``Intuitively, I feel what the kids learn from chess carries over to their everyday lives.
The change shows up in their improved critical thinking and problem solving. It gets kids
to think for themselves.'' -- Fred Nagler, Principal, P.S. 123 [27]
WHAT DO STUDENTS SAY?
``Chess has significantly increased my logical and mathematical skills. In fact, because
of the effect of chess, I am going to major in mathematics and computer science in
college, both of which utilize the aforementioned skills.'' Matthew Puckett [45]
The skills chess offers to those who play it are gold mines. It teaches the faithful players
how to approach life. It teaches people that are having dilemmas that here is more than
one answer to a problem. While your adversary is looking at the issue through a single
point, you as the great chess player that you are, can take a step back and look at the
picture through many points.'' Sultan Yusufzai [45]
Because of chess, I feel that my life has been enriched both mentally and socially. I
have improved my critical thinking skills in everyday life through chess.'' Brandon Ashe
[45]
27
WHAT DO PARENTS SAY?
Andrew Rozsa, psychologist, speaking of his gifted son: ``He has had real social and
behavioral difficulties since he was 18 months old... He was thrown out of several
schools... Things became pretty bad at about age 9 ... Nothing seemed to work,
nothing. ... Today he is a straight A student and his behavior problems are minimal (but
not trivial). ... Sorry, no control subjects, no double blind, no defined independent
variables (actually there are two: chess and age).
Nonetheless, I think that the great improvements we have seen are, to a large extent,
due to chess.'' [36], [38]
``Chess is one of the most meaningful things I've ever seen enter this school system.''
Dee Estelle Alpert
``I want to see chess introduced into the curriculum, right alongside math, music, and
art.'' Oscar Shapiro [27]
CONCLUSION
At the 40th World Chess Congress in 1969, Dr. Hans Klaus, Dean of the School of
Philosophy at Humboldt University in Berlin, commented upon the chess studies
completed in Germany: ``Chess helps any human being to elaborate exact methods of
thinking. It would be particularly useful to start playing chess from the early school days
... Everybody prefers to learn something while playing rather than to learn it formally…it
produces in our children an improvement in their school achievements. Those children
who received systematic instructions in chess improved their school efficiency in
different subjects, in contrast with those who did not receive that kind of instruction.''
[22]
Because of the overwhelming research demonstrating the benefits of chess and
because of the brain research theorizing the growth of dendrites, chess should be
integrated into the school curriculum at the primary level.
Chess is a new way of solving the old problem of poor education. From the streets of
Harlem to Venezuela's public schools the sport of kings has been implemented as an
effective tool for teaching students to utilize their higher order thinking skills and to strive
to overcome personal problems to reach their full potential. In light of these facts it is not
unreasonable to imagine chess as a broader part of schools in America. Chess could
very well be one of the missing components for America to regain its place at the top for
educating its young people.
28
WHY SHOULD YOU PLAY CHESS? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Source: library.advanced.org/10746/reasons.html
Chess is a game for people of all ages. You can learn to play at any age and in
chess, unlike in many other sports, you don't ever have to retire. Age is also not a factor
when you're looking for an opponent --young can play old and old can play young.
Chess develops memory. The chess theory is complicated and many players
memorize different opening variations. You will also learn to recognize various patterns
and remember lengthy variations.
Chess improves concentration. During the game you are focused on only one main
goal -- to checkmate and become the victor.
Chess develops logical thinking. Chess requires some understanding of logical
strategy. For example, you will know that it is important to bring your pieces out into the
game at the beginning, to keep your king safe at all times, not to make big weaknesses
in your position and not to blunder your pieces away for free. (Although you will find
yourself doing that occasionally through your chess career. Mistakes are inevitable and
chess, like life, is a never-ending learning process.)
Chess promotes imagination and creativity. It encourages you to be inventive. There
are an indefinite amount of beautiful combinations yet to be constructed.
Chess teaches independence. You are forced to make important decisions influenced
only by your own judgment.
Chess develops the capability to predict and foresee consequences of actions. It
teaches you to look both ways before crossing the street.
Chess inspires self-motivation. It encourages the search of the best move, the best
plan, and the most beautiful continuation out of the endless possibilities. It encourages
the everlasting aim towards progress, always steering to ignite the flame of victory.
Chess shows that success rewards hard work. The more you practice, the better
you'll become. You should be ready to lose and learn from your mistakes. One of the
greatest players ever, Capablanca said, "You may learn much more from a game you
lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before
becoming a good player."
Chess and Science. Chess develops the scientific way of thinking. While playing, you
generate numerous variations in your mind. You explore new ideas, try to predict their
outcomes and interpret surprising revelations. You decide on a hypothesis, and then
you make your move and test it.
29
Chess and Technology. What do chess players do during the game? Just like
computers they engage in a search for the better move in a limited amount of time.
What are you doing right now? You are using a computer as a tool for learning.
Chess and Mathematics. You don't have to be a genius to figure this one out. Chess
involves an infinite number of calculations, anything from counting the number of
attackers and defenders in the event of a simple exchange to calculating lengthy
continuations. And you use your head to calculate, not some little machine.
Chess and Research. There are millions of chess resources out there for every aspect
of the game. You can even collect your own chess library. In life, is it important to know
how to find, organize and use boundless amounts of information. Chess gives you a
perfect example and opportunity to do just that.
Chess and Art. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia chess is defined as "an art appearing
in the form of a game." If you thought you could never be an artist, chess proves you
wrong. Chess enables the artist hiding within you to come out. Your imagination will run
wild with endless possibilities on the 64 squares. You will paint pictures in your mind of
ideal positions and perfect outposts for your soldiers. As a chess artist you will have an
original style and personality.
Chess and Psychology. Chess is a test of patience, nerves, will power and
concentration. It enhances your ability to interact with other people. It tests your
sportsmanship in a competitive environment.
Chess improves schoolwork and grades. Numerous studies have proven that kids
obtain a higher reading level, math level and a greater learning ability overall as a result
of playing chess. For all those reasons mentioned above and more, chess playing kids
do better at school and therefore have a better chance to succeed in life.
Chess opens up the world for you. You don't need to be a high ranked player to enter
big important competitions. Even tournaments such as the US Open and the World
Open welcome players of all strengths. Chess provides you with plenty of opportunities
to travel not only all around the country but also around the world. Chess is a universal
language and you can communicate with anyone over the checkered plain.
Chess enables you to meet many interesting people. You will make life-long
friendships with people you meet through chess.
Chess is cheap. You don't need big fancy equipment to play chess. In fact, all you may
need is your computer! (And we really hope you have one of those, or else something
fishy is going on here.) It is also good to have a chess set at home to practice with
family members, to take to a friend's house or even to your local neighborhood park to
get everyone interested in the game.
30
CHESS IS FUN! Dude, this isn't just another one of those board games. No chess
game ever repeats itself, which means you create more and more new ideas each
game. It never gets boring. You always have so much to look forward to. Every game
you are the general of an army and you alone decide the destiny of your soldiers. You
can sacrifice them, trade them, pin them, fork them, lose them, defend them, or order
them to break through any barriers and surround the enemy king. You've got the power!
To summarize everything in three little words: Chess is Everything!
NOTES
[1] Robert Ferguson, ``Chess in Education Research Summary,'' paper presented at the
Chess in Education A Wise Move Conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community
College, January 12-13,1995.
[2] Albert Frank, ``Chess and Aptitudes,'' doctoral dissertation, 1974, Trans. Stanley
Epstein.
[3] Johan Christiaen, ``Chess and Cognitive Development,'' doctoral dissertation, 1976,
Trans. Stanley Epstein.
[4] Donna Nurse, ``Chess & Math Add Up,'' Teach, May/June 1995, p. 15, cites Yee
Wang Fung's research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
[5] Robert Ferguson, ``Teaching the Fourth R (Reasoning) through Chess,'' School
Mates, 1(1), 1983, p. 3.
[6] Robert Ferguson, ``Developing Critical and Creative Thinking through Chess,'' report
on ESEA Title IV-C project presented at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania
Association for Gifted Education, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 11-12, 1986.
[7] Robert Ferguson, ``Teaching the Fourth R (Reflective Reasoning) through Chess,''
doctoral dissertation, 1994.
[8] Isaac Linder, ``Chess, a Subject Taught at School,'' Sputnik: Digest of the Soviet
Press, June 1990, pp. 164-166.
[9] Rafael Tudela, ``Learning to Think Project,'' Commission for Chess in Schools, 1984,
Annex pp. 1-2.
[10] Rafael Tudela, ``Intelligence and Chess,'' 1984.
[11] William Levy, ``Utilizing Chess to Promote Self-Esteem in Perceptually Impaired
Students,'' a governor's teacher grant program through the New Jersey State
Department of Education, 1987.
31
[12] Robert Ferguson, ``Tri-State Area School Pilot Project Findings,'' 1986.
[13] Robert Ferguson, ``Development of Reasoning and Memory through Chess,'' 1988.
[14] Louise Gaudreau, ``tude Comparative sur les Apprentissages en Mathématiques
5e Année,'' a study comparing the Challenging Mathematics curriculum to traditional
math, 1992. (The authors are Michel and Robert Lyons. The ISBN is 2-89114-472-4.
This collection has been sold to La Chenelière & McGraw Hill in Montreal. You can
reach them at (514) 273-7422. Ask for Michael Soltis.)
[15] Stuart Margulies, ``The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores: District Nine Chess
Program Second Year Report,'' 1992.
[16] Chess-in-the-Schools, Web page at www.symbolic.com/chess/chsgym.htm.
[17] Philip Rifner, ``Playing Chess: A Study of Problem-Solving Skills in Students with
Average and Above Average Intelligence,'' doctoral dissertation, 1992.
[18] Stuart Margulies, ``The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores,'' 1996.
[20] James Liptrap, ``Chess and Standardized Test Scores,'' Chess Coach Newsletter,
Spring 1999, Volume 11 (1), pp. 5 & 7.
[21] L.E. Allen & D.B. Main, ``Effect of Instructional Gaming on Absenteeism: the First
Step,'' The Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 1976, 7 (2), p. 114.
[22] Naciso Rabell Mendez, ``Report by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) to the
United Nations Organization (UNO),'' June 1988, quotes Dr. Klaus' comments.
[23] Kathleen Vail, ``Check This, Mate: Chess Moves Kids,'' The American School
Board Journal, September 1995, pp. 38-40.
[24] Yasser Seirawan, ``Scholastic Chess -- Feel the Buzz,'' Inside Chess, February 21,
1994, p. 3.
[25] Roger Langen, ``Putting a Check to Poor Math Results,'' The Reporter, December
1992.
[26] Dr. Fred Loveland personal communication.
[27] Chess Improves Academic Performance, Christine Palm, 1990.
[28] Personal letter from Dr. Calvin F. Deyermond, Assistant Superintendent for
Curriculum and Instruction for the North Tonawanda City School District.
[29] Personal letter to Allen Kaufman from Principal Cheryl Coles, June 9, 1995.
32
[30] Carol Chmelynski, ``Chess said to promote school performance and self-esteem,''
School Board News, July 6, 1993, Vol. 13 (12), pp. 7-8.
[31] John Artise, ``Chess and Education.''
[32] San Jose Mercury News, 4-3-96.
[33] Jo Coudert, ``From Street Kids to Royal Knights,'' Readers Digest, June 1989.
[34] ``Editorial: Chess gives hope for our youth,'' The Saratogian, March 12, 1991.
[35] Arman Tajarobi, e-mail from December, 1996.
[36] Andrew J. Rozsa, Birmingham, Alabama, Newsgroup e-mail.
[37] Harriet Geithmann, ``Strobeck, Home of Chess,'' The National Geographic
Magazine, May 1931, pp. 637-652.
[38] ``Check Mates,'' Fairfield County Advocate, Mar. 20, 1989.
[39] Terrell Bell, Your Child's Intellect, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1982,
pp.178-179.
[40] Chess'n Math Association, Canada's National Scholastic Chess Organization, 1681
Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ont. M4G 3C1 (web page at www.chess-math.org/)
[41] Dan Edelman, ``New Jersey Legislature Passes Chess Bill into Law,'' Chess Coach
Newsletter, Spring 1993, Vol. 6 (1), pp. 1 & 3.
[42] Math and Chess Puzzle Centre, 3550 West 32 nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6S
1Z2 (Web page at www3.bc.sympatico.ca/mathchess/)
[43] Alexander Taylor, ``Chessmen Come to Life in Marostica,'' The National
Geographic Magazine, November 1956, pp. 658-668.
[44] Terrell Bell, Your Child's Intellect, 1982, pp. 178-179.
[45] Scholar-Chessplayer Outstanding Achievement Award Applications.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For additional information about the studies reviewed in this summary, please contact
the United States Chess Federation by calling 914-562-8350 or by writing to: U.S.
Chess
33
3054 NYS Route 9W
New Windsor, NY 12553
The USCF web page address is www.uschess.org
For a list of research available from the USCF: www.uschess.org/scholastic/scresearch.html
For a manual and/or a CD ROM on Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills Through
Chess, a Pennsylvania State Department of Education approved course, contact the
American Chess School at 140 School Street, Bradford, PA 16701 or e-mail
[email protected]
34
Scientific Proof: Chess Improves Reading Scores
by Beverly Byrne, USCF
Assistant Publications Director
A new scientific study lends authoritative proof to what chess coaches have suspected all along:
chess improves reading skills.
New York City's District 9 mid-elementary school students took part in a comprehensive study
program. Chess and non-chessplaying students volunteered. The results were reported in a study
by Stuart Margulies, Ph.D., and stated that the test scores of the students in the NYC chess
program were outstanding compared to those of the control groups.
All of the subjects took a reading test at the end of each school year. Reading gains of the groups
were compared. The control groups were made up of (1) all non-chessplaying classmates or (2)
non chessplaying classmates who had the same average reading scores at the beginning of the
year as the players. The chessplayers showed greater gains in reading as compared to either of
the other control groups.
Teachers who played chess served as Coaches, ran the program, and were assisted by chess
masters from the American Chess Foundation. During the 1991-92 school year, the District 9
program was greatly enhanced by the addition of computers supplied by IBM to the participating
schools. This gave the students more chances to practice, to play against computer chess
software, and to have the fun and the challenge of playing matches against other schools. This
enhanced program was termed the Castle Chess Program.
While most students in District 9 performed below the national average in reading skills, most
chessplayers performed above the national average. This confirms the power of the Castle Chess
Program to develop enhanced reading scores.
An additional control group was needed to rule out the possibility that the above average
students (in this case the chessplayers) make gains even if the rest of the district does not. To test
this, a sample of students in the top 70% of the class was taken from the same classes as the
chessplayers.The scores at the beginning of the year of these highscoring non-chessplayers were
the same as the chess participants. At the end of the year, they showed no gain in percentile
ranking-while the chessplayers gained 5.7 percentiles! The research further indicates that
although chessplayers score from the bottom level to the top level, they include a higher
percentage of excellent readers than are found in the general District 9 population.
This finding supports the possibility that chess programs function well as an Intellectually Gifted
and Talented Program.
The teachers in District 9 are firm in their belief that their chessplaying students develop
enhanced ego strength as they increase their chess competence. They proclaim that students who
feel confident and good about themselves naturally learn to read better.
The chess masters concur that playing chess develops general intelligence, self-control, analytic
skill, and increased ability to concentrate. Because of this, enhanced reading skills naturally
follow.
35
36
Chess Makes Kids Smarter
BY DR.GERARD DULLEA
Chess lovers have long contended that chess should be a valuable classroom
tool. It can provide an intellectually stimulating, rewarding activity, but it can
also teach discipline, concentration, planning and all the other good things that
go into successful chess.
In 1977, however, the National Institute of Education (NIE) argued against this
position, saying in effect that good students and good chessplayers tend to be
the same group simply because they are more intelligent and more intellectual
than their classmates. NIE contended that transfer of skills is minimal, arguing
that time spent on one skill detracts from the learning of another.
Some months later Dutch scholar Adriaan de Gioot wrote a rebuttal of NIE's
position, basing his arguments on a careful two-year study in Belgium. Now,
thanks largely to Harry Lyman of Massachusetts, in behalf of the
Massachusetts Chess Association and the American Chess Foundation. the
Flemish source of de Groot's argument has been translated into English.
The Belgian study was the doctoral thesis of Johan Christiaen, titled "Chess &
Cognitive Development.'' It was a carefully controlled experiment with 20
students in the fifth grade in 1975, following them through the sixth grade the
next year. As might be expected of a foundation for a doctorate in psychology,
the test was carefully designed and executed, complete with a control group
and other features of good experimentation.
Christiaen's aim was to use chess to test jean Piaget's theory about cognitive
development, or intellectual maturation. Piaget holds that an important growth
period occurs approximately between the ages of 11 and 15. In this stage, the
child moves beyond physical trial and error and begins hypothesizing and
deducing, developing more complex logic and judgment. In Piaget's terms, the
youngster moves from the "concrete" stage to the "formal" stage. Piaget further
contends that the environment of a child can speed up or slow down the
maturation. So Christiaen proposed to vary environment with either chess or
no-chess. If chess were the significant variable between two groups of
youngsters, any significant difference in the development of students could be
attributed to enrichment brought by chess to their environment. And it worked!
37
In the words of Harry Lyman, "Learning chess makes kids smarter in the
classroom!"
On 42 Friday afternoons, after school, Christiaen taught chess to 20 boys
randomly selected from a group of 40. The other 20 were the control group, the
one that would be compared. He did his best to keep these students ignorant of
their experimental In testing after these two years, the chess, group scored
somewhat better than the control group on various of Piaget's tests for cognitive
development. More of a difference, however, was evident in their regular
school testing! In the school testing, the chess group did significantly better in
both the fifth grade tests and (somewhat less so) in the sixth grade tests.
Christiaen notes that some of this difference may be due to what Robert
Rosenthal of Harvard calls the "Pygmalion effect.'' That is, teachers who may
give special treatment to "special" students may get special results from those
students.
On the other hand, classroom testing was supported by standardized testing
administered by an outside agency, which did not know the identities of the two
groups. On these tests too, the chess group performed better than the control
group.
This study by Dr. Christiaen needs support, extension and confirmation. And
other tests can be made too. For the moment, however, we have scientific
support for what we have known all along - chess makes kids smarter!
Reprinted from the November 1982 issue of Chess Life magazine.
38
The Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children’s Minds
By Dr Peter Dauvergne
University of Sydney
July, 2000
Abstract
This article surveys educational and psychological studies to examine the benefits for children
of studying and playing chess. These show that chess can
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Raise intelligence quotient (IQ) scores
• Strengthen problem solving skills, teaching how to make difficult and abstract decisions
independently
• Enhance reading, memory, language, and mathematical abilities
• Foster critical, creative, and original thinking
• Provide practice at making accurate and fast decisions under time pressure, a skill that
can help improve exam scores at school
• Teach how to think logically and efficiently, learning to select the ‘best’ choice from a
large number of options
• Challenge gifted children while potentially helping underachieving gifted students learn
how to study and strive for excellence
• Demonstrate the importance of flexible planning, concentration, and the consequences of
decisions
• Reach boys and girls regardless of their natural abilities or socio-economic backgrounds
Given these educational benefits, the author concludes that chess is one of the most effective
teaching tools to prepare children for a world increasingly swamped by information and ever
tougher decisions.
39
The Case for Chess as a Tool to Develop Our Children’s Minds
By Dr Peter Dauvergne
University of Sydney
July, 2000
Is chess an art? A science? Some claim it’s both. Yet let’s be honest, it’s really just a game.
Fun, challenging, creative: but still a game, not much different from tennis, cricket, football, or
golf.
But there is one striking difference to these other popular games. While learning to play almost
any game can help build self-esteem and confidence, chess is one of the few that fully exercises
our minds.
Many of us could probably use this exercise, although it may be a bit late for some. (At least for
those of us old enough to read an article like this voluntarily!) It’s not, however, too late for our
children.
Chess is one of the most powerful educational tools available to strengthen a child’s mind. It’s
fairly easy to learn how to play. Most six or seven year olds can follow the basic rules. Some
kids as young as four or five can play. Like learning a language or music an early start can help
a child become more proficient. Whatever a child’s age, however, chess can enhance
concentration, patience, and perseverance, as well as develop creativity, intuition, memory, and
most importantly, the ability to analyse and deduce from a set of general principles, learning to
make tough decisions and solve problems flexibly.
This is undeniably a grand claim. The remainder of this paper outlines some of the arguments
and educational studies to justify and support this.
40
Concentration, Patience, and Perseverance
To play chess well requires intense concentration. Some of the world’s top players can
undeniably look distracted, sometimes jumping up between moves to walk around. A closer
look, however, reveals that most of these players are actually in deep concentration, relying on
strong visual recall to plan and calculate even when they are away from their game. For young,
inexperienced players, chess teaches the rewards of concentration as well as provides immediate
penalties for lapses. Few teaching tools provide such quick feedback. One slip in concentration
can lead to a simple blunder, perhaps even ending the game. Only a focused, patient and
persistent young chess player will maintain steady results – characteristics that are equally
valuable for performing well at school, especially in school exams.
Analysis, Logic, and Problem Solving
Playing chess well involves a combination of aptitudes. A 1973-74 study in Zaire by Dr Albert
Frank (1974) found that good teenage chess players (16-18 years old) had strong spatial,
numerical, administrative-directional, and paperwork abilities. Dr Robert Ferguson (1995, p. 2)
notes that “This finding tends to show that ability in chess is not due to the presence in an
individual of only one or two abilities but that a large number of aptitudes all work together in
chess.” Even more significantly Frank’s study found that learning chess, even as teenagers,
strengthened both numerical and verbal aptitudes. This occurred for the majority of students (not
just the strong players) who took a chess course for two hours each week for one school year.
Other studies have added that playing chess can strengthen a child’s memory (Artise).
A 1990-92 study in New Brunswick, Canada, further shows the value of chess for developing
problem solving skills among young children (Gaudreau 1992). By integrating chess into the
traditional mathematics curriculum teachers were able to raise significantly the average problem
solving scores of their students. These students also scored far higher on problem solving tests
than ones who just took the standard mathematics course. Primary school chess has now
exploded in New Brunswick. In 1989, 120 students played in the provincial school chess
championship. Three years later over 19,000 played (Ferguson 1995, p. 11).
41
Chess has also been shown to foster critical and creative thinking. Dr Ferguson’s four-year study
(1979-83) analysed the impact of chess on students’ thinking skills in the Bradford Area School
District in the United States (grades 7-9). These students were already identified as gifted, with
intelligence quotient (IQ) scores above 130. Using two tests (Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking
Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) Ferguson (1995, pp. 4-6) found that after
spending 60-64 hours playing and studying chess over 32 weeks students showed significant
progress in critical thinking. He further found that chess enhances “creativity in gifted
adolescents.” He concluded that “it appears that chess is superior to many currently used
programs for developing creative thinking and, therefore, could logically be included in a
differentiated program for mentally gifted students”.
Playing chess, however, is not only valuable for developing the skills of gifted children.
Average and even below average learners can also benefit. Chess teacher Michael Wojcio
(1990) notes that “even if a slow learner does not grasp all of [the strategies and tactics in chess],
he/she can still benefit by learning language, concepts, and fine motor movement.” During a
program run by Dr Ferguson from September 1987 to May 1988 all members of a standard sixth
grade class in rural Pennsylvania were required to take chess lessons and play games. This class
had 9 boys and 5 girls. At the start of this study students took IQ tests, producing a mean IQ of
104.6. Students then studied chess two or three times per week while playing most days. They
were also encouraged to participate in tournaments. After this intensive chess instruction a
group of seven boys managed to finish second in the 1998 Pennsylvania State Scholastic
Championship. Significantly, at the conclusion of the study tests showed a significant increase
in both memory and verbal reasoning skills, especially among the more competitive chess
players (Ferguson 1995, pp. 8-9).
Chess has even been shown to raise students’ overall IQ scores. Using the Wechsler Intelligence
Scale for Children a Venezuelan study of over 4,000 second grade students found a significant
increase in most students’ IQ scores after only 4.5 months of systematically studying chess. This
occurred across all socio-economic groups and for both males and females. The Venezuelan
government was so impressed that all Venezuelan schools introduced chess lessons starting in
1988-89 (summarised in Ferguson 1995, p. 8).
42
Solving Problems and Synthesising Information in a Globalising World
The internet, email, and computers are rapidly changing the skills essential to succeed at school
and work. As globalisation accelerates, information is pouring in faster and faster. Information
that took months to track down a few years ago can now spin off the internet in just minutes.
With such easy access and tremendous volumes, the ability to choose effectively among a wide
variety of options is ever more vital.
In this world students must increasingly be able to respond quickly, flexibly and critically. They
must be able to wade through and synthesise vast amounts of information, not just memorise
chunks of it. They must learn to recognize what is relevant and what is irrelevant. They also
need to acquire the skills to be able to learn new technologies quickly as well as solve a continual
stream of problems with these new technologies.
This is where chess as a tool to develop our children’s minds appears to be especially powerful.
By its very nature chess presents an ever-changing set of problems. Except for the very
beginning of the game — where it’s possible to memorise the strongest lines — each move
creates a new position. For each of these a player tries to find the ‘best’ move by calculating
ahead, evaluating these future possibilities using a set of theoretical principles. Importantly,
more than one ‘best’ move may exist, just as in the real world more than one best option may
exist. Players must learn to decide, even when the answer is ambiguous or difficult.
These thinking skills are becoming ever more valuable for primary and secondary school
students constantly confronted with new everyday problems. If these students go to university it
will be especially imperative to understand how to apply broad principles to assess new
situations critically, rather than rely on absorbing a large number of ‘answers’. Far too
commonly my own university students do not have these skills. As a result they become
swamped by information, vainly searching for the right answer to memorise rather than the
various best options.
43
Conclusion
The case, then, is exceptionally strong for using chess to develop our children’s minds and help
them cope with the growing complexities and demands of a globalising world. More and more
schools around the world are recognising the value of chess, with instruction now becoming part
of standard curriculums. It’s of course just a game. Yet it has fascinated and challenged some of
the greatest minds of the last century, sparking enough books about how to play to fill an entire
library.
Chess is an especially effective teaching tool. It can equally challenge the minds of girls and
boys, gifted and average, athletic and non-athletic, rich and poor. It can teach children the
importance of planning and the consequences of decisions. It can further teach how to
concentrate, how to win and lose gracefully, how to think logically and efficiently, and how to
make tough and abstract decisions (Seymour and Norwood 1993). At more advanced levels it
can teach flexible planning since playing well requires a coherent plan, yet not one that is rigidly
followed regardless of the opponent’s response. Chess can also build confidence and self-esteem
without overinflating egos, as some losses are inevitable, even for world champions.
Chess can potentially help teach underachieving gifted children how to study, perhaps even
leaving them with a passion for learning. Chess tournaments can, moreover, provide a natural
setting for a gifted child to interact with other children of all ages, as many tournaments are not
divided by age but by ability (unlike most school activities and many other sports). It’s common
to see a six-year-old playing a twelve-year-old, or a ten-year-old playing a seventeen-year-old.
Young players can also perform remarkably well in adult chess tournaments. In 1999-2000 in
Australia, for example, a thirteen-year-old won the New South Wales championship, a fourteenyear-old won the South Australian championship, a fifteen-year-old won the Queensland
championship, and a thirteen-year-old tied for second in the Australian championship.
44
Studying chess systematically has also been shown to raise students’ IQ scores, academic exam
scores (Dullea 1982; Palm 1990; Ferguson 2000, p. 3), as well as strengthen mathematical,
language, and reading skills (Margulies 1991; Liptrap 1998; Ferguson 2000, pp. 3-4).
Tournament chess games, which involve clocks to limit the total time each player can use, are
also a fun way to provide practice at making fast and accurate decisions under pressure, a skill
that can help students cope with the similar pressures of school exams. This is also a fun way to
practise how to put the mind into high gear, where intense concentration increases alertness,
efficiency of thought processes, and ultimately mental performance.
Perhaps most importantly chess is a fun way to teach children how to think and solve an everchanging and diverse array of difficult problems. With millions of possibilities in every game,
players must continually face new positions and new problems. They cannot solve these using a
simple formula or relying on memorised answers. Instead, they must analyse and calculate,
relying on general principles and patterns along with a dose of creativity and originality – a skill
that increasingly mirrors what students must confront in their everyday schoolwork.
In June 1999 the International Olympic Committee officially recognized chess as a sport. This is
welcome news for the world’s six million registered chess players as well as countless more
unregistered players. With such recognition hopefully even more of our children will turn to
chess, striving for sporting dreams that will leave them smarter, and ultimately able to cope
better in the real world of perpetual problems.
About the Author
Peter Dauvergne is a Canadian chess master (FIDE rating 2250) and Senior Lecturer in the
Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the editor of the
journal Global Environmental Politics (MIT Press) and the author of numerous books and
articles on environmental management in the Asia-Pacific. He can be reached at
[email protected].
45
References*
* These and other chess and education research studies are available from the United States
Chess Federation, http://www.uschess.org/.
Artise, John. “Chess and Education.”
Dullea, Gerard J., 1982. “Chess Makes Kids Smarter,” Chess Life, November.
Frank, Albert, 1974. Chess and Aptitudes, Doctoral Dissertation. Translation, Stanley Epstein.
Ferguson, Robert, 1995. “Chess in Education: Research Summary.” A Review of Key Chess
Research Studies. For the Borough of Manhattan Community College Chess in Education ‘A
Wise Move’ Conference.
Ferguson, Robert, 2000. “The Use and Impact of CHESS,” in Section B, USA Junior Chess
Olympics Curriculum, copy emailed by the author.
Gaudreau, Louise, 1992. “Étude Comparative sur les Apprentissages en Mathématiques 5e
Année.”
Liptrap, James, 1998. “Chess and Standard Test Scores,” Chess Life, March.
Margulies, Stuart, 1991. “The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores: District Nine Chess Program
Second Year Report.” The American Chess Foundation, New York.
Palm, Christine, 1990. “Chess Improves Academic Performance,” derived from “New York City
Schools Chess Program.”
Seymour, Jane, and David Norwood, 1993. “A Game for Life,” New Scientist 139 (September,
no. 1889), pp. 23-26.
Wojcio, Michael David, 1990. “The Importance of Chess in the Classroom,” Atlantic Chess
News.
46
Chess Is Cool for Kids!
By Leopold Lacrimosa
Walt Disney Pictures announced they will start production on the movie “I Choose to Stay”,
to be released in 2005. It is based on the book “I Choose to Stay: A Black Teacher Refuses
to Desert the Inner City”, published in 2003 by Kensington Publishing and written by
Salome Thomas-EL. Mr. Thomas-El, a gifted child who was raised in the projects of
Philadelphia, Pa., earned an Ivy League education and returned to Philadelphia in 1987 to
become a teacher at Vaux Middle School.
There he revived the then dormant chess club and with a profound belief in his student’s
potential, taught the children to play chess. These children then went on to win local and
national competitions. Mr. Thomas-El used these accomplishments to motivate hundreds of
the children to attend magnet high schools and then go on to major colleges and
universities. Many have gone on to do greater things in higher education and in the
professional world.
Can Chess Really do that for Kids?
But is this result all because of chess? After all it’s just a game, right? What many parents
are beginning to learn is that chess can and does help foster developmental thinking in
children.
Yasser Seirawan, one of America’s premier Grand Masters, World Junior Champion (1987),
four-times U.S. Champion (1981, 1986, 1989 and 2000), ten-time member of the U.S.
Olympiad chess team (he was also one of the top scorers at Bled 2002 Olympiad, achieving
an individual silver medal for his performance) and five time contender for the World Crown
(1985, 1987, 1997, 1999 and 2000) is fond of saying that chess teaches the 5 R’s. Reading,
Writing, Arithmetic, Responsibility and Respect.
Chess and the 5 R's for Kids
Chess and Reading: because kids must study from many chess books in order to develop
their game.
Chess and Writing: because the rules of chess state that you must keep a score of your
game.
Chess and Math: because each piece on the chess board has value, some greater than
others; if you loose stronger pieces for lesser ones, it may cost you the game.
Chess and Responsibility: because you and you alone must direct your army of pieces to
its best deployment, and bad decisions will allow your men to be captured with little or no
compensation, which may also cost you the game.
Chess and Respect: because you respect yourself as well as your opponent, each game
begins with a handshake and ends with a handshake.
47
Chess Helps Developmental Thinking in Kids
As a chess coach, I have seen that chess does more, much more. When a child takes up the
Royal game, (chess has been around since about 550-620 A.D. and has been known as the
“King of Games" and the "Game of Kings”), he begins to develop logical thinking, critical
thinking, decision making, problem solving, as well as, mathematical skills, algebra and
geometry.
A study by Dr Peter Dauvergne at the University of Sydney, has found that students who
play chess have raised their intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the following areas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Strengthened problem solving skills
Learned how to make difficult and abstract decisions independently
Enhance reading, memory, language, and mathematical abilities; fostered critical,
creative, and original thinking
Provided practice at making accurate and fast decisions under time pressure, (a skill
that can help improve exam scores at school)
Taught them how to think logically and efficiently, learning to select the "best" choice
from a large number of options
Challenged gifted children while potentially helping underachieving gifted students
learn how to study and strive for excellence
Demonstrated the importance of flexible planning, concentration, and the
consequences of decisions
Reached boys and girls regardless of their natural abilities or socio-economic
backgrounds.
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Chess Is Cool for Kids!
Other Studies Showing that Chess is Good for Kids
"Chess in Education Research Summary" by Robert Ferguson (1995). A 14-page summary
of key chess research.
"Chess Improves Academic Performance" summary of NY School Chess Program.
"The Importance of Chess in the Classroom", Atlantic Chess News, 1990 (Michael D.
Wojcio). Wojcio teaches chess to slow learners in 5 NJ schools and this describes his
program and the benefits.
"Chess and Education" (John Artise). After 2 years of psychological research in chess, Artise
found cognitive improvements in memory, logic, observation and analysis, and operant
conditioning.
"The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores" by Stuart Margulies, Ph. D.
"Teaching the Fourth R (Reasoning) Through Chess" (Robert Ferguson). A 1979 project
teaching the gifted (grade 7-9) in Bradford Pa. Statistical "proof" that chess increases
thinking scores. Also, includes description of teaching program.
"Chess Makes Kids Smart" (Anne Graham-PARENTS-Dec 1985). Urges parents to introduce
their kids to chess and quotes work of Pete Shaw, Jeff Chesin, Bob Cotter, etc.
"Chess Makes Kids Smarter" (Dr. Gerard J. Dullea).
"Chess as a Way to Teach Thinking" (Diane Horgan).
These are only scratching the surface. In the Netherlands, the Dutch found that kids who
play chess overall do 8% better in mathematics and science compared to kids who didn’t
play (The statistic for girls alone is a difference of 12%).
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Chess in the Schools
Chess (long embraced by the Russians and Europeans who have taught the game as part of
their educational curriculum) has now moved as part of the curriculum in hundreds of
schools in our Northern neighbor, Canada. They have seen the benefits of children learning
the game.
But these reasons don’t compel children to take up the game. As a chess coach, I have seen
attendance swell in the school chess clubs I teach. The company I work for in Phoenix, AZ,
has seen a 20% annual growth in children’s chess participation from its onset eight years
ago. When I started teaching chess five years ago, we would hold a scholastic tournament
with 70 players. When we had a hundred and fifty entrants we thought it was big. This year
(2004) in the eight tournaments we’ve held, the average attendance exceeded 350 in 5
sections, and that’s only from the greater Phoenix area. The Arizona State Championship
and the Arizona Governor’s Cup each saw close to 600 entrants while the recent U.S. Chess
Federation’s Elementary Championship was close 2100 children in attendance.
Kids are Attracted to Chess
So why are children attracted to chess? I believe that it appeals to our (their) inherited,
individualistic, competitive nature. As a child grows, he/she wants to stand on their own,
away from any parent or guardian and at the same time, when achieving a goal, say to
them, “Hey, look what I can do!”
Unlike many team sports, chess players do stand on their own. If they loose a game, it is
their fault, their failure and no one else’s. They cannot blame their loss on a teammate’s
failure to pass the ball, miss the goal, or in being forced to play no matter how bad at the
game the teammate may be. At the same time, when they win, it is also on their shoulders.
It is because they were the ones who had put a little extra effort into learning the intricacies
of the game. They are the ones who out thought their opponent in a long drawn out
struggle or a short trap. And after their match, that win can create an adrenaline high that
is unmatched except at the professional levels of sports.
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Children who take up chess harbor deep emotions for the game. Once learned, it is with
them for life. Yet, it is only those who play competitive chess who will develop into better
players quicker than those who just learn the moves of the game. But is this healthy? Isn’t
fostering a competitive attitude in our children supposed to be a bad thing? I don’t believe
so, at least not in the competitive chess arena.
I’ve seen kids in chess grow up to become great kids. Kids who are jumpy, calm down; Kids
who are overly hyper, sit and play for hours; Kids who are too emotional, learn to take
losses and come back to play again; Kids who are over achievers, learn that there is always
someone else out there who can beat you; Kids who never believe that they can perform or
excel at anything, win games. Kids who want to win at all costs learn that winning isn’t
everything. And I’ve seen kids, win or loose, connect with their parents at an indescribable
level when they walk out of the tournament hall.
I believe chess is good for you and is great for children.
And in the immortal words of the 13th World Chess Champion, Gary Kasparov:
“If you think it’s just a game, than you’re not playing it right!”
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52
Benefits of Chess for Children
By Dean J. Ippolito
Chess has long been considered a way for children to increase their mental prowess,
concentration, memory, and analytical skills. To anyone who has known the game, it comes as
no surprise that these assumptions were actually proven in several studies on how chess can
improve the grades of students.
Although chess has been shown to increase the mental abilities of persons of all ages, the main
studies have been done with children. This is first for the obvious reason that students are
constantly tested anyway, and therefore the data need only be analyzed, and secondly because
children's mental development is more rapid and can be more easily measured than persons at a
later life stage.
Early Conclusions
After several informal studies were done in the early 20th century on the effect that chess has on
logical thinking and other such functions, a primary conclusion was drawn that chess does in fact
not only demand such characteristics, but develops and promotes them as well. John Artise in
Chess and Education wrote "Visual stimuli tend to improve memory more than any other stimuli;
chess is definitely an excellent memory exerciser the effects of which are transferable to other
subjects where memory is necessary."
Improved memory is just the tip of the iceberg. Reports from students, teachers, and parents
noticed the academic benefits of chess on math problem solving skills and reading
comprehension, an increase in self-confidence, patience, logic, critical thinking, observation,
pattern recognition, analysis, creativity, concentration, persistence, self-control, sportsmanship,
responsibility, respect for others, self esteem, coping with frustration, and many other influences
which are difficult to measure but can make a difference in student attitude, motivation, and
achievement.
With this in mind, legislation in the U.S. in 1992 promoting and encouraging the incorporation of
chess into the curriculum of schools was passed. The U.S. joined the more than 30 countries
which already had chess included in some form in their school curricula. Today it is estimated
that that number has more than doubled.
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In part due to the educational community, which has noted the increased academic performance
of students participating in chess, there has been an explosion in the number of children playing
chess in the U.S. This popularity can be seen in the record number of players competing in
National Scholastic Events. Scholastic chess players are increasing in numbers more rapidly than
adult chess players; scholastic chess membership within the United States Chess Federation now
represents more than 50% of the total members. An estimated 250,000 children in the U.S. are
introduced every year through the school system to the basics of the game. As the number of
children playing chess grows, it has become necessary for actual tests to be performed to
determine the benefits of chess. Luckily, these studies have already been done to confirm the
hypothesis that chess is linked to increased grades in school; far too many to be listed here. I will
touch on some of the more outstanding, thorough studies, all of which have similar findings.
Case Studies
As reported in Developing Critical Thinking Through Chess, Dr. Robert Ferguson tested students
from seventh to ninth grades from the years 1979-1983 as part of the ESEA Title IV-C Explore
Program. He found that non-chess students increased their critical thinking skills an average of
4.6% annually, while students who were members of a chess club improved their analytical skills
an average of 17.3% annually. Three separate tests to determine how chess affects creative
thinking were also done as part of the same study. It concluded that on average, different aspects
of creative thinking had improved at a rate two to three times faster for chess playing students, as
opposed to their non-chess playing counterparts.
Subsequent studies by Dr. Ferguson further supported these original conclusions. In the Tri-State
Area School Pilot Study conducted in 1986 and Development of Reasoning and Memory
Through Chess (1987-88) chess playing students showed more rapid increased gains in memory,
organizational skills, and logic.
In Zaire the study Chess and Aptitudes, was conducted by Dr. Albert Frank at the Uni Protestant
School, during the 1973-74 school year. Using sufficiently large experimental and control
groups, Dr. Frank wanted to confirm if the ability to learn chess is a function of special aptitude,
perceptive speed, reasoning, creativity, or general intelligence. He hypothesized that in order to
learn chess well one must have a high level of one or several of these abilities. He also wanted to
see to what extent learning chess could influence the development of these abilities. His results
were astonishing, yet predictable. There was a significant correlation between the ability to play
chess well, and spatial, numerical, administrative-directional, and paperwork abilities. It showed
that the ability in chess is not due to the presence of only one or two abilities but that a large
number of talents all work together in chess. The conclusion was that students participating in
the chess course show a marked development of their verbal and numerical aptitudes.
Furthermore, this was noticed in the majority of chess students and not only those who were
better players.
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A study conducted in four large elementary schools in Texas in 1997 further demonstrated the
positivism of chess. Through the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), the study was
done to test the difference that chess club had on standardized tests. These schools were selected
since all had a chess program in existence for a minimum of two years. The chess clubs met for
one hour after school one day per week. Since a few thousand total students took the test and all
types of students were tested from special education students to gifted and talented students, the
sample was large and diverse enough to make a concrete conclusion. There were significant
improvements in both reading and math for all grade levels and all classes of students (regular,
gifted and talented, special education, academically able, etc.). Through the Texas Learning
Index, or TLI, it was determined that on average the students who played chess improved in
reading and mathematics at a rate between 1.5 and two times faster than non-chess playing
students.
In terms of verbal improvement specifically, a study by Dr. Stuart Margulies from 1991
addressed this. The study conclusively proved that students who learned chess enjoyed a
significant increase in their reading skills. "Margulies Study is one of the strongest arguments to
finally prove what hundreds of teachers knew all along-chess is a learning tool. (Inside Chess,
February 1994).
"Can chess promote earlier intellectual maturation" was the question posed in the Chess and
Cognitive Development study directed by Johan Christiaen from the 1974-76 school years in
Belgium. The results again clearly confirmed that the group of chess playing students showed
significantly more improvement then the non chess playing students. In 1982, Dr. Gerard Dullea
mentioned this study and proclaimed "…we have scientific support for what we have known all
along-chess makes kids smarter! (Chess Life, November 1982) In a similar study done in a test
series in New Brunswick, Canada called Challenging Mathematics, the mathematics curriculum
used chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. The average problem solving score in the province
increased from 62% to 81%. In Playing Chess: A Study of Problem-Solving Skills in Students
with Average and Above Average Intelligence by Philip Rifner from the 1991-92 school term,
the hypothesis that learning general problem solving skills in chess could then be applied to other
domains was affirmed.
Conclusions
We can now say with full confidence that chess has been PROVEN to enhance creativity,
problem solving, memory, concentration, intellectual maturity, self esteem, and many other
abilities that a parent or teacher would desire. This proves what all of us involved in chess have
been saying for years…chess makes you smart!
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56
The Importance of Chess in the Classroom by Michael David Wojcio
Since 1978 Michael has been teaching chess to slow learners, average, and above-average
(gifted) students. in about 20 schools. Presently. he is teaching the Royal Game to sow learners
at the Daron School in Livingston. N.J. and in four elementary schools, in Short Hills and
Summit, in after-school programs.
In 1982, I started a summer school chess program at the Glenwood Elementary School in
Short Hills. There are about 50 children who attend the chess classes every year.
For the last seven years, I have directed an annual children’s chess tournament in Short Hills.
This year we had 54 participants in four sections.
It is important that teachers realize:
1) That chess is not difficult to learn, and
2) That there are so many advantages for the students.
The fact that chess is easy to learn is shown by the USCF publications Pawn & Queen and in
Between and School Mates, many videos, pamphlets, and good books of instruction. A few good
instructional books are listed at the end of this article.
International Master Jeremy Silman is right on target when he states that chess improves
concentration, visualization, and memory.
There is also a plethora of valuable ramifications enhanced by learning chess, and, in point of
fact — it’s fun!
In special education, the game for the slow learner means:
1) Remembering the light square is on the right setting up the board, the names of the pieces, and
becoming familiar with piece movement, the rules, and the concept of checkmate.
2) Sequencing — putting the pieces on the correct squares at the beginning of the game.
3) fine motor skills — moving the pieces in a straight line — vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and
L-shaped moves to the other color.
4) “Basic” strategy, controlling the center, moving one’s army out in the opening, so that no
knights or bishops remain “sleeping” on the back rank, and.
5) Thinking first, then moving.
Later, simple tactics and the en passant rule can be taught to some special education students.
Tactics are short term plans, and strategy is the overall plan.
Even if a slow learner does not grasp all of this, he she can still benefit by learning language,
concepts, and fine motor movement.
Teaching the game to the average, above average, and gifted student, means all of this at a
faster pace, plus more involved strategy and tactics.
Chess is an art, a science, and a sport. Chess has this and even more value for students.
Chess is more than a game, since the teacher can transfer many aspects of this motivational
tool to other important subjects.
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Transfer of Learning can take place when:
1) Using algebraic notation. Learning the coordinates for files (eight vertical rows) and ranks
(eight horizontal rows) can be a great introduction to reading street maps, or any x, y axis graph,
or presentation.
In algebraic chess notation, the numbers identify the ranks, and the letters identify the files,
giving each square its identity.
2) Learning map skills also transfers to geography (longitude, latitude). I point out where my
postal opponents live in the U.S.A. and in other countries, Chess is very popular in Europe and
on other continents.
3) Marking down what squares the pieces attack with pennies, dimes, nickels, and quarters,
means reviewing math and money skills. This can relate to simple coin recognition, subtraction,
addition, or even more involved multiplication, for different levels of students.
In addition, one can see that a piece in the center has more value, compared to one on the
edge. Comparisons of value are applicable to other pieces.
The knight on a1 attacks two nickels (ten cents). The knight on e5 attacks eight nickels (40
cents). Which knight would you prefer to have?
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4) Another aspect of math is geometry, and geometry plays a big part in teaching basic mating
patterns. In a king and queen versus king ending, the winning side tries to limit the moves
of the opponent’s king by gradually decreasing the square or rectangle (formed by the squares
attacked by the queen), until the king is forced to move to the edge of the board. When this
cannot be accomplished with a queen move, the king moves closer to the enemy king (timing).
Triangulation (taking two moves to reach a square you could have moved to in one move) is
an important concept in king and pawn endgames, and is an excellent introduction to triangles
and timing.
The triangulation occurs on the e3, e4, and f4 squares. If the White king moves directly to e4,
then Black replies Ke6 and the game is drawn, as neither player can get past the one square
buffer of the opposing king (kings cannot come within one square of each other). By
triangulating. White can win!
1. Kf4 Ke6 2. Ke4 Kd6 3. Kf5 Kc7 4. Ke5 (instead of e6 — another triangulation) Kc6 5. Ke6
Kb7 6. Kd7 (instead of d6 — another triangulation!) Kb6 7. Kd6 and now Black will lose one
pawn, and then the other and the game.
5) Reading is one of the most important skills in education, and chess can be a great motivational
tool. Last year, Harry, a 12-year-old in one of my classes, hated to read (his reading skills were at
the second-grade level). Harry enjoyed chess and I let him borrow Pawn and Queen and In
Between. He was so interested in learning more about the game that he read 36 pages of the 18
lesson booklet in one evening!
Also, books for average students, like Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, can be
much more exciting for the children, since they know what chess is about.
6) Language is always important and chess literature will build vocabulary, as well as serve as an
introduction to a few foreign words. Chess has French words such as en passant (in passing), and
en prise (in a position to be taken). There are German terms such as Zugzwang (move
compulsion), and Zwizchenzug (intermediate move), and Italian words such as tempo (time), and
Giuoco Piano (quietest game).
7) Perceptual Motor (fine motor) movement is enhanced by moving the pieces. For the slow
learner and perceptually impaired child, hand-eye coordination is taught by using chess as an
instructional tool.
In terms of special perception, all students must learn nut to overlook the way an opponent’s
piece, moves. The lateral movement of the queen and rook, the ‘backward diagonal movement of
the queen and of the bishop, —indeed, any combination of horizontal, vertical, or diagonal
movement (enlivened by the L-shaped move of the knight), once mastered, leads to a better
perception of special relationships.
8) In my communicationally handicapped class last year, two of my students used an Apple
computer. They learned how to play chess against a strong chess program and enjoyed doing it.
Chess is one vehicle for creating an interest in using computers.
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9) Science means discovery. The chess board may be an introduction to graphs in science and
math. As in science, there are always new discoveries (moves) that make chess fascinating. The
scientific aspect of the game (triangulation. opposition. queening squares: time, space and force
relationships) can be used to demonstrate complex ideas in the simplest of terms.
White to move: Who reaches the a8 square first’?
White to move: Who reaches the a8 square first’?
10) Chess is a major sport in the Soviet Union. It can he used to enhance physical education
programs, even if tine game is only linked to fine motor movement. One aspect of the offensive
and defensive struggle depends on force — the strength of the pieces. Accordingly, if one loses a
knight, he will eventually lose unless there is a great advantage in his position. One can find this
in the different abilities of the players, and isn’t a hockey team at a disadvantage when a player is
in the penalty box?
Strategy, like controlling the center and the mobility of one’s pieces, is analogous to
basketball, football, and other sports.
We have to use our mental abilities to reach a higher level of performance.
11) Many great chess players have tried to find the right “artistic” combination and have won
many beautiful games doing so. Tactics such as a smothered mate with a knight, an interference
theme, or on an even higher level, a speculative sacrifice of a major (queen or rook) or minor
(knight or bishop) piece (trading force for time or position) — serve nicely to illustrate this type
of cohesive beauty.
The board and pieces can serve as an introduction to various art forms. Chess sets have been
made in plastic, wood, ivory, glass, onyx, metal — almost every material imaginable. Some
ornate designs are simply spectacular!
One of my third-grade classes, learning how to play chess during the lunch hour, staged a play
entitled The Queen of the Red Chessmen’ — and made their chess hats (to represent the various
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pieces) in the art room, from available supplies.
12) Chess has a long and great history. The Morals of Chess by Benjamin Franklin is an
excellent essay. Franklin emphasizes chivalry and courtesy. Students have to make good decisions by being less impulsive. Touch move is a prime example. Franklin classifies it as using
caution. The best player in the world during the Civil War period was Paul Morphy of New
Orleans.
13) Friendships are very important. Through chess I have met friends that are youngsters, my
age, and many who are retired. One is 80 years old. Elaine Pritchard, a very good chess-player
from England, has said, “It (chess) is an international passport and through the game you will
have friends in all the cities of the world.”
One of my opponents in the 1986 U.S. Open, held in Somerset. N.J. was from Japan. I have
been playing postal chess with Akhito for the last two years, and we are friends. Through postal
chess, over-the-board tournament chess, and at local chess clubs, I have met many wonderful
people.
The great thing about the game is that it bridges nationalities and generation gaps.
Competitive chess is still dominated by men. but more women ate playing than ever before. Two
of the Polgar sisters from Hungary are grandmasters.
I have shared with you my enthusiasm for the art, the challenge, and the benefits of chess.
Whether or not you have any experience with this fine game, give it your best consideration.
After all, a potential world champion may be in your classroom, Chess has made my life fuller.
more significant and more interesting!
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62
The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores:
District Nine Chess Program
Second Year Report
by
Stuart Margulies Ph. D.
The American Chess Foundation
353 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 757-0613
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The Effect of Chess on Reading Scores:
District Nine Chess Program, Second Year Report
Summary
Students in a New York City chess program improved reading scores more than a
control group. The gains made by chessplayers were compared to national performance
and district performance.
Chessplayers outperformed the average student in the country and the average
student in the district.
The gains made by chessplayers were statistically significant at the .01 level. Thus the
chances are only one in a hundred that these gains were due to chance.
District Nine in the Bronx, New York City, conducted the chess program.
This study evaluated two years of this program. Teachers and chess masters provided
instruction in the first year. Instruction was enhanced in the second year by the addition of
computers and software supplied by IBM.
Chess students in the computer-enhanced program were significantly more likely to
show gains than a control group who had the same average reading scores at the beginning of the year but did not receive chess instruction.
Several theories are offered to account for the gains made by chessplayers, but no
conclusion is reached.
Acknowledgments
Many people contributed to the District Nine Chess Program and helped prepare this
report. Cliff Jackson managed the program and facilitated this research. Without his hard
work, none of this would have been possible.
The District Nine teachers served as chess coaches and did the day to day work which
made this program run. These teachers included Ms Teresa Easton, Mr Onwuzinger, Mr
T. Nievas, Mr Mark Singer, Mr Frank Hennessy, Mr Victor Vargas, Mrs Florence Marin, Mr
Darnell Gatling and Mr W. Lissimore. Many other teachers also did this core job of
organizing and teaching.
Chess masters provided both instruction and inspiration. They also helped assemble
the data needed for this report. I would like to thank Bruce Albertson, Doug Bellizzi,
Maurice Ashley and John Kennedy for their help.
Mark Levine was both a chess coach, a tournament director, and the computer expert
on this project. Shelby Lyman helped bring this project to reality. He encouraged the
research effort, and provided encouragement and inspiration to all participants.
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Many people in the District Nine office provided essential help in assembling the data
and analyzing it. Gordon Gilbertwas extremely helpful in all phases of this study. We
could not have prepared this report without his help. Dr Edward Whitney helped us get
organized and prepared the analytic study on which we relied. Dr Lewis and Dr Gargan
commented on the report and Dennis Kagan and Arnie Insler helped us assemble the
data.
Professor Les Ault helped to design the study and reviewed the report many times. Dr
Jan Eglan analyzed the report and helped prepare the statistical analysis. Dr Eliot Hearst
made many substantial contributions. Each of these three consultants are also experts in
chess research and helped prepare the final section of the report. Steven Fried and Dr
Allan Edwards are prominent researchers who helped review this study. I could only implement a fraction of the many suggestions these and other reviewers made.
Dr Bat-Chava was our statistical expert. Dr Hodges helped to design and edit the report, and made many suggestions for revision. Mark Yoffie and Alex Belth helped with the
slow and tedious work of assembling and checking the data.
Allan Kaufman of the American Chess Foundation provided support and encouragement at all stages of the project. We turned to him to solve any difficulties and he responded with competence and speed. IBM provided funding for many aspects of the
chess program and for this research study. The IBM representatives, Zeke Seligsohn and
Jim Courage, have a firm commitment to assisting the students of District Nine and to this
research effort. They provided consistent support throughout this research. Also, they
provided a model of hard work and dedication.
Many people in District Nine labored to get this project going in years past. We offer
them our thanks.
Overview
Elementary school students in New York City’s District 9 received instruction in playing
chess. Students in the program improved reading scores more than control groups. Gains
were statistically significant at the .01 level.
Background
District Nine, located in the Bronx, New York City, has a comprehensive chess program.
In the first year of this study, students in the mid elementary school grades joined chess
clubs in school. Instruction and inspiration were given by teachers who also served as
coaches, and by chess masters provided by the American Chess Foundation.
In the second year of this study, this program was greatly enhanced by an IBM-supported initiative. IBM provided computers, software and support for chess activities. As a
consequence, students could practice against computer chess software and were able to
play matches against distant opponents through a modem-mediated network. This second yearof the study was termed the computer-enhanced program.
Participation in the first and second year chess programs was voluntary.
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Selection of Subjects
This report evaluates reading performance of students who participated in chess
programs. Subjects in the first year were students who participated in the 1990 District
Nine Chess Tournament. Second year subjects were chess team members in the
computer-enhanced program. All students who played in the 1990 tournament and all
team members in the 1991 computer-enhanced chess program were included if they met
the following criteria:
1.
They must have taken a Degree of Reading Power Test (DRP) at the end of the
school year and in the prior year. The DRP test is given once a year, in May. Students
who transferred into District Nine from other states and students who were absent
when the test was given were excluded from the study.
2.
Students must have scored at the 10th percentile or higher on the DRP test at
the beginning of the school year. Students who scored between 0 and 9 percent or
students classified as Limited English Proficiency were not included in the study. This
constraint was imposed because the DRP test may be less reliable under the 10th
percentile. There was no upper limit to DRP scores.
The effect of instituting a cut-off at the lower end of scores and no cut-off at the upper
end was to make it more difficult to demonstrate reading gains among chess participants.* Inclusion of these students would probably have resulted in higher gains for
chessplayers, but would have been subject to the criticism that the scores were unreliable. Adoption of the criteria we chose was a conservative decision.
Since we obtained significant differences with this procedure, we increase our confidence in the result.
Results and Data Analysis
Table 4 in Appendix 1 shows the reading scores of chessplayers before and after joining the chess program. A 50% score means the student is average in the country for that
grade on the DRP test. A score of 99% means the student is one of the best readers in
that grade for the reading skills tapped by the DRP. A student who scores in the 50th
percentile in May 1991 and who continues to perform in an average fashion, will score in
the 50th percentile one year later, in May 1992. An increased score indicates an above
average performance. The use of percentile scores is discussed further in the section on
control groups.
* For example, one of our students scored at the 99+ percentile and several obtained very high scores.
Such students may be able to get almost every question right on the pre-test and post-test even before they
enter the chess program. Even if they made enormous gains in reading as a result of playing chess, we
would see no gain. And should these students have been ill when they took the post-test, it is hypothetically
possible that they would have shown a big drop. Similarly, one of our students scored at the second percentile on the pre-test and was dropped from the study. Many other students obtained very low scores and were
also dropped. Any reading gains made by these students would not have been registered. Because the
students scored close to zero, it was not possible to show a loss.
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Inspection of the 53 scores shows that many of thechessplayers demonstrated gains.
Percentile scores are inappropriate for statistical analysis. In order to have an appropriate metric, the percentile scores are converted to standard scores. All scores were
converted to NCE scores, a normalized equivalent score.
Table 5 in Appendix 1 shows the converted scores. Chess participants showed a gain in
percentile score of 5.37. Non-participants showed no gain. Table 1 shows that this result
is significant beyond the .01 level.
Students in the first year (November, 1990 to May, 1991) chess program and team
members in the computer-enhanced program (November, 1991 to May, 1992) were combined in performing the analysis shown in Table 1.
We also sought to determine whether the computer-enhanced program might itself
demonstrate significant gains in reading. The computer-enhanced program was
evaluated by the Chi Square test. Scores on the DRP reading test were compared prior to
and after participation in this program. The scores of 22 chess team members were
analyzed.* Fifteen went up and seven went down. Control groups were formed to evaluate the significance of this result. If a Castle student was in School 114, 4th grade, then
the remainder of that school’s 4th grade class was put into the control group. There was a
total of 1,118 non-participating students in the classes from which the chessplayers were
drawn. Of these, 491 scored higher and 627 scored lower. The Chi Square test of statistical significance was applied. The results, which are statistically significant at the .05
level, are shown in Table 2.**
This result is quite impressive. Stated simply, it tells us that while most District Nine
students under-performed the national average in the second year of this study, most
chessplayers*** outperformed the national average. This provides another confirmation
of the power of the computer-enhanced chess program to improve reading scores. The
use of an additional control group, as discussed in the next section, increases our confidence that chess participation increases reading scores.
Control Groups
The tests used in this report were based on percentile scores on the DRP reading test.
Comparisons were made between chess participants and control groups made up of nonparticipants. The details of this comparison are discussed in this section.
* There were 24 students, 2 of whom had the same score. Equal scores were dropped in this Chi Square
test.
** Note that the Chi Square test tells us that the number of chessplayers who showed gains (15 out of 22)
is significant when compared to the number of non-chessplayers showing gains (less than half). This test is
insensitive to the size of gains made by the chessplayers. It treats a gain of one point in the same manner as
a gain of 50 points. The t-test, on the other hand, is sensitive to the size of the gain. It tells us that the amount
of gain is significant.
*** We have used the term chessplayer to mean a participant in the District Nine chess program and the
term non-chessplayer as equivalent to non-participant. We have used this terminology even though there
may be some students among the 1,118 non-participant control group who know how to play chess but did
not participate in the program.
67
Table 1. Paired t-test evaluating significance of reading gains
Variable
Pre-test Scores
Post-test scores
Difference
5.37
Number
of Cases
Mean
53
53
57.69
63.07
Standard
Error
t-value
1.79
3.01
Significant beyond the .01 level
Table 2. Comparison of results of chessplayers in the
computer-enhanced Program and all non-chessplayers
ALL NON-PARTICIPANTS
CHESS PARTICIPANTS
Chi Square = 5.16
GAIN
LOSS
TOTAL
491
15
627
7
1118
22
Significant at the .05 level
Table 3. Comparison of results of chessplayers in the
computer-enhanced Program and high-scoring non-chessplayers
HIGH NON-PARTICIPANTS
CHESS PARTICIPANTS
Chi Square = 8.52
GAIN
LOSS
TOTAL
245
15
410
7
655
22
Significant at the .01 level
68
An average student in 4th grade scores at the 50th percentile on a reading test. If this
student continues to grow in proficiency at an average rate throughout the year, he or she
will be an average reader in 5th grade and once again score at the 50th percentile. This
student will be a much better reader in 5th grade than in 4th grade, even though he or she
will still score at the 50th percentile. Similar considerations apply to a student at a higher
or lower percentile. A student who started the school year at the 80th percentile and
ended the year at the 80th percentile would have gained a lot of reading competence, but
would show no gain in percentile score. A student who begins the school year at the 80th
percentile is no more likely to show a gain than the student who begins the year at the
50th or 30th percentile.
District Nine chessplayers show an average gain of 5.4 in percentile score. Nationally,
students who take this test at yearly intervals do not show a gain in percentile ranking.
This comparison shows that chessplayers in District Nine significantly outperform the
average student in the country. Our next comparison shows that chess participants outperform other students in District Nine.
We examined the reading scores of all students in District Nine during the two years of
this study. This was done to ensure that the 5.4 percentile gain among chessplayers did
not come in part or in whole from gains in the district. (A district may show a gain or a loss
from year to year in the average percentile scores achieved by students. For example, if
a district spent three periods a day on reading instead of one, if class size were reduced,
if funding were increased, or if there was an abundance of school counselors and a hot
lunch program, the average student in the district might gain a few percentiles. Similarly if
these factors were to change in the reverse direction, a district might show a decline in
readingscores.) The information that there was no gain in reading percentile scores in the
district during these two years is provided in the study District Nine Achievement Patterns,
by Edward Whitney, Ph.D. published in July, 1992. On the basis of this study, we can
conclude that chessplayers significantly outperformed other students in District Nine.
We must also consider another possible control group. Although some chessplayers
have very low entry reading levels, the average chessplayer has a higher than average
entry-level reading score. We must rule out the possibility that above-average District
Nine students, whether or not they play chess, make substantial reading gains even if the
rest of the district does not. Thus we formed a control group of non-chessplaying students
with high entry-level reading scores in order to evaluate the Chi Square test result shown
in Table 2. The next paragraph describes this control group.
We have shown previously that 15 of the 22 participants in the computer-enhanced
program (68%) made gains while only 491 of 1,118 non-participating students (44%)
showed gains. We need to examine gains made by the non-participants who had high
initial reading scores. Of the 1,118 students in the same classes as the chessplayers, 655
had initial reading scores at or above the 30th percentile. 245 of these 655 (37%) showed
gains; 410 showed losses. Thus 68% of chessplayers showed gains while 37% of the
control group showed gains. (Again it should be noted that this control group consisted of
classmates who had comparable average reading scores at the beginning of the year.)
Table 3 presents a Chi Square analysis of this data. Analysis of Table 3 makes it clear that
the gains made by the chessplayers are not due to the fact that their entry scores are
69
above average for the district. This table also highlights the power of the computerenhanced program. Chessplayers in this program were much more likely than nonchessplaying classmates to improve their percentile reading scores, although both groups
had comparable reading scores at the beginning of the year.
A further analysis makes the same point. Table 6 in the Appendix shows all 53 chessplayer
pre-test and post-test scores arranged in ascending numerical order with the associated
gains and losses. It shows that gains are not coming from students at the 80th and 90th
percentile, but from average students. This table must be interpreted with great caution
because of statistical concerns*, but it does provide additional evidence that reading
gains are not attributable to the fact that many of the chessplayers are above average
students. We can cautiously conclude that reading gains would have been just as high or
possibly even higher if District Nine chess participants were drawn from students who
had somewhat lower reading scores at the beginning of the program.
This report provides data from two years of the District Nine chess program. A third
year of analysis will provide additional data. Although considerable caution is necessary
because of the limited sample size, the results suggest that chessplayers make gains in
reading.
Discussion
Why does chess help reading?
The results of this study suggest that chess participation enhances reading performance. An understanding of this phenomenon was sought through interviews with chess
masters and teacher-coaches, and by an examination of the literature on the transfer of
training.
Chess masters believe that chess play develops general intelligence, self-control, analytic skill, and increased ability to concentrate. They argue that enhanced reading skills
naturally follow. This point of view is not accepted by most educators who question the
concept of general intelligence.
The teachers in District Nine believe their chessplaying students develop enhanced
ego strength as they increase their chess competence. They argue that students who feel
confident and good about themselves naturally learn to read better.
A third explanation for these enhanced reading scores is that chess participants form a
pool of intellectually gifted and talented students. Students who join this group make
contact with a core of high achievers and thereby develop more academic interests, speak
at higher levels of standard American speech and take on the values of achievement. Our
research does indicate that although some chessplayers began the year as poor readers,
the chess program attracts a higher percentage of excellent readers than are found in the
general District Nine population. This supports the possibility that chess participation
does function as an Intellectually Gifted and Talented Program.
* These include effects called “regression to the mean” and “ceiling effects”. The same caution is
necessary in interpreting Table 3.
70
There is a fourth explanation for our findings which is quite speculative since it involves
a complex comparison of chess and reading. If it can be shown that skills and cognition
necessary to play chess well are very similar to those required to read well, educators
would have no difficulty assimilating the results obtained in this study into general education theory. Educators doubt that any activity can generate general intelligence. The old
theory that learning a difficult subject like Latin develops mental discipline is not accepted
by most educators, although research in this area continues and the results are not all in.
Still, educators would readily accept the notion that chess-playing enhances reading performance if substantial overlap can be demonstrated between the skills and cognition
required in both activities. Unfortunately, a convincing analysis of the skills and cognition
required for reading and chess-playing at the age levels considered in this study does not
exist.
Let us consider here the skills and cognitions involved inreading and in chess and try to
determine the extent to which they are related.
Reading-with-understanding and playing-chess-well are complex, little understood
operations. Reading may be analyzed into lower level and higher level processes. For
example, a child may read a story about a cockroach seen in a restaurant. Low level
processes involve decoding words such as “restaurant”, “waitress” and “astonished” while
also understanding grammar and usage. Higher level processes require an information
component (eg. information about restaurants, about what people do there, the implications of finding a cockroach, etc) and a thinking component (i.e. processing, comprehending, analyzing, in short all the higher order skills required to construct meaning from the
story).
The student glances at a word or phrase, employing lower level skills for decoding and
then tries to integrate this new information into a pre-existing context to obtain meaning.
The process is constantly extended as each new word is “read”.
This description of the reading process is similar to many descriptions of the chessplaying process. Chessplayers combine high level processes - knowledge and information about the position - and an interactive approach in which each “candidate move” is
considered much like a word or phrase in reading. The cognition processes are very
similar. Both chess and reading are decision-making activities and some transfer of training
from one to the other may be expected.
Several explanations have been offered for the findings obtained in this study. Perhaps
all of these explanations apply, some to one student, some to another. This might explain
why a large percentage of chess-playing students make gains in the District Nine chess
program.
Conclusion
Chess participation appears to enhance reading performance. Further research is
needed to confirm this result and to help us understand the power of playing chess.
71
Appendix 1
Chess Participants' Reading Scores:
Combined Scores of Both Years
Table 4. Chessplayers' Percentile Scores on Pre- and Post-Tests
STUDENT
ID
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
PRE-TEST POST-TEST STUDENT PRE-TEST
SCORE
SCORE
ID
SCORE
15
61
61
28
91
69
24
23
83
69
54
44
42
18
98
87
67
33
84
75
50
91
65
52
71
61
73
61
66
75
77
87
97
90
46
78
97
92
15
46
42
97
63
88
16
96
68
47
84
64
54
84
85
88
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
Number of Cases: 53
72
79
77
95
65
86
65
37
37
94
99
97
89
76
21
21
75
67
24
16
58
49
68
86
49
92
10
POST-TEST
SCORE
75
81
99
81
92
58
38
34
91
99
97
96
89
29
23
53
88
28
18
89
55
44
67
54
86
20
Study I. The ESEA Title IV-C Project:
Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess
The ESEA Title IV-C federally funded research project was approved for three years
(1979-82). It was extended for one school year (82-83) at local expense for a combined total of
four years. The primary goal of the study was to provide challenging experiences that would
stimulate the development of critical and creative thinking.
The Title IV-C project was an investigation of students identified as mentally gifted with an
IQ of 130 or above. Students in the nonchess groups exceeded those in the chess group in Mean
IQ by 2.3 points, which is not significantly different. All participants were students in the Bradford
Area School District in grades 7 through 9. The individuals sampled in this study could not be
randomly assigned to groups because the students' individualized education plans prescribed
activities based on interests.
The primary independent variables reviewed in this summary are the chess treatment, the
computer treatment, and all nonchess treatments combined. Each group met once a week for 32
weeks in the gifted resource room at Bradford Area High School to pursue its interest area under
the leadership of the Coordinator of Secondary Gifted Education (Robert Ferguson). Most groups
spent a total of 60-64 hours pursuing their preferred activity.
The dependent variables were the differences in the means of the posttests from the
pretests. Data were collected from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The chi square test and the t test were applied to determine
the level of statistical significance.
PRE & POSTTEST SCORES FOR CHESS GROUP
RAW SCORES ON CRITICAL THINKING TEST
90
80
R
A
W
S
C
O
R
E
S
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
STUDENT ID
PRETEST SCORE
POSTTEST SCORE
FIGURE 1. A comparison of the pre and posttest scores for the chess
group on the Critical Thinking Appraisal
73
Results and Data Analysis
It is important to note that all scores reported for the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking
Appraisal (WCTA or CTA) are equivalent raw scores. Watson and Glaser (1964, p. 8) used a
procedure called equi-percentile equating to determine equivalent raw scores. These scores were
all based on norms for high school students and beyond. Since this study was testing junior high
level students and no norms exist for seventh and eighth graders, the project director was forced to
use the high school norms and equivalent raw scores. In some cases pupils in the study actually
scored more correct answers on the posttest than on the pretest and still showed a loss due to the
equivalent raw score procedure.
Inspection of the pre and posttest results in the figure on page one shows that all but one
chessplayer demonstrated gains in raw scores. The average annual increase in equivalent raw
scores for the chess group was 10.53.
The average annual increase in percentile score for the chess group was 17.3%. Nationally,
students who take this test at yearly intervals do not show a gain in percentile ranking. This
comparison shows that the Bradford chess group significantly outperformed the average student in
the country four years in a row!
A 50% score means the student is average in the country for that grade level on the
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. A score of 99% means the student is one of the best
critical thinkers in that grade for the skills assessed by the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking
Appraisal. A Student who scores in the 50th percentile in 1979 and who continues to perform in
average fashion, will score in the 50th percentile in 1980. An increased percentile score indicates
an above average performance.
Percentile scores are inappropriate for statistical analysis. In order to have an appropriate
metric, the percentile scores were converted to equivalent raw scores.
The t test was used to test statistical significance of the gains on the Watson-Glaser Critical
Thinking Appraisal. The t test measures the quantity of the gain to assess whether it is significant.
TABLE 1. Dependent t test evaluating significance of gains on the
Critical Thinking Appraisal (CTA) by chessplayers
VARIABLE
Pretest Scores
Posttest Scores
Difference
10.53
NUMBER
MEAN
15
15
62.80
73.33
Standard
Error
t value
2.2
4.786
Significant beyond the .001 level
74
Table 1 on the preceding page demonstrates that the chessplayers achieved a very
significant gain (p < .001) from the pretest to the posttest in critical thinking skills as measured by
the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. The level of significance tells us that there is less
than one possibility in a thousand that this result could have occurred by chance.
Just as the dependent t test illustrated above is extremely significant, so too is the
independent t test illustrated in Table 2, which indicates that the chess group's performance is
notably superior to that of the nonchess group's. The results, which are statistically significant at
the .001 level, are shown in Table 2.
TABLE 2. Independent t test evaluating significance of difference on
the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal between the
chessplayers and nonchessplayers
VARIABLE
Nonchess Group Gains
Chess Group Gains
Difference
8.67
NUMBER
MEAN
79
15
1.86
10.53
Standard
Error
2.4
t value
3.61
Significant at the .001 level
The data were also evaluated using a nonparametric, or distribution-free, test of
significance. For Study I, the chi square test of statistical significance was used to evaluate the
gains/losses on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. The chi square test evaluates the
significance of the number of chessplayers demonstrating gains on the CTA compared to the
number of non-chessplayers showing gains. Because the chi square test is nonparametric, it is
insensitive to the size of gains; it considers a gain of one point in the same manner as a gain of 30
points or 100 points.
The chess group was compared to the nonchess group, the computer group, and the
nonparticipants. The chi square test results ranged from marginally significant at .072 to very
significant at .002. A complete listing of the chi square test results may be found in Table 3 on the
next page.
Particular attention should be given to the results comparing the gains of the eighth graders
on the CTA. These are perhaps the most significant of all the critical thinking results because eighth
graders comprised 46% of the total number of students participating in the project. Out of a total
of ninety-four pupils who completed both the pre and posttests, forty-three were eighth graders.
Because this was the largest grade sample, it becomes more statistically important and increases our
level of confidence in the results.
75
TABLE 3. Statistical summary for CTA
t Test
p<
Chi Square X2
p<
MALES & FEMALES COMBINED:
Chess Group
Chess vs. Nonchess
Chess vs. Computer
Chess vs. Nonparticipants
0.001
0.001
0.003
0.025
0.008
0.008
0.002
MALES:
Chess Group
Chess vs. Nonchess
Chess vs. Computer
0.003
0.072
0.017
0.056
0.023
FEMALES:
Chess Group
Chess vs. Nonchess
Chess vs. Computer
0.043
0.085
0.195
0.071
0.104
ALL 8TH GRADERS:
Chess Group
Chess vs. Nonchess
Chess vs. Computer
0.003
0.006
0.142
0.009
0.05
TABLES
In a Fidelity Electronics' article entitled "The Minds of Tomorrow" (1993), the company
states: "In light of chess playing's ability to shape future minds, schools all across the United States
view chess as a powerful educational tool. Thousands of pre-teens and teens understand that chess
coheres the mind to anticipate, make decisions, and react in a way no other game can."
Dr. R.J. Topping (1988), the Coordinator of the Gifted/Talented Programs for the White
Plains Public Schools, agrees with Fidelity and states:
Chess is an integral part of the logic and creative problem-solving segment of our
More Able Student curriculum. It cultivates critical thinking skills in our students,
enhancing their personal growth and academic learning. We encourage other
school systems to consider offering their students experiences in this dynamic
content area (Chess in the Schools, 1988, p. 3).
Many teachers use chess as a vehicle to teach critical thinking skills. They stress to students
that learning how to think is more important than learning the solution to a specific problem.
Through chess, pupils learn how to invent creative solutions to problems. They learn how to
analyze a situation by focusing on the important factors. Chess is effective because it is
self-motivating. The game is intrinsically fascinating, and the goals of attack and defense, climaxing
76
in checkmate, motivate young people to delve deep into their mental resources (Chess in the
Schools, 1988, p. 2).
The next portion of the results and data analysis summary reviews the different aspects of
creativity tested in this research: fluency, flexibility, and originality.
Verbal fluency is an individual's ability to generate a large number of ideas with words. Chessplayers
often have a running dialogue within their minds reviewing the checklist for important strategic and
tactical factors or mentally calculating: "If I go there, then he'll move . . ."
Flexibility represents a person's ability to produce a variety of types of ideas, to shift from one approach to
another, or to use a variety of strategies. Originality is skill at producing ideas that are different from the obvious.
Torrance (1974) defined creative thinking as: "a process of becoming sensitive to
problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying
the difficulty; searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the
deficiencies: testing and retesting these hypotheses and possibly modifying and retesting them; and
finally communicating the results."
It is important to note that all scores reported for the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
are standard T-scores. All raw scores were converted in accordance with the recommendations in
the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking Norms-Technical Manual (1974, pp. 48, 56). These
scores were all based on creative thinking norms established for junior high school students.
INCREA SE IN CREA TIVITY
60
COMPARISON BETWEEN CHESS AND NONCHESS
59.78
50
G
A
I
N
S
40
30
24.206
20
18.5619.48
10
0
5.568
3.089
Chess Group
THREE ASPECTS OF CREATIVITY
Fluency
Flexibility
Other Groups
Originality
FIGURE 2. A comparison of the chess group gains to the nonchess
group gains
77
Creativity is a major aspect of chess at the master level, but can chess influence creativity at
the amateur level? Summary Table 4 sheds some light on this question. It would appear from the
data collected and the statistical test results listed in the table below that there can be little doubt
that chess does enhance creativity in gifted adolescents. Dr. Stephen Schiff's claim that creativity
can be taught through the art of chess has been confirmed.
While the entire chess group made superior gains over the other groups in all three areas,
the aspect that demonstrated the most significant growth was originality. It should be noted that
several researchers have found that gains in originality are usual for those receiving creativity
training, whereas gains in fluency are often slight or nonexistent. The fact that the chess group's
gains in fluency were significant beyond the .05 level when compared to the national norms is an
important discovery.
It appears that chess is superior to many currently used programs for developing creative
thinking and, therefore, could logically be included in a differentiated program for mentally gifted
students.
TABLE 4. Statistical summary of t tests on Creativity
TABLES
FLUENCY FLEXIBILITY ORIGINALITY
p<
p<
p<
MALES & FEMALES COMBINED:
Dependent Chess
0.077
0.024
0.01
Population Mean Chess vs. Norms
0.039
0.002
0.001
Independent Chess vs. Nonchess
0.049
0.05
0.018
Independent Chess vs. Computer
0.038
0.08
0.022
MALES:
Dependent Chess
Population Mean Chess vs. Norms
Independent Chess vs. Nonchess
Independent Chess vs. Computer
0.142
0.07
0.039
0.076
0.03
0.008
0.007
0.018
0.016
0.003
0.002
0.007
ALL 8TH GRADERS:
Dependent Chess
Population Mean Chess vs. Norms
Independent Chess vs. Nonchess
Independent Chess vs. Computer
0.32
0.171
0.305
0.606
0.088
0.037
0.061
0.12
0.018
0.019
0.009
0.027
ALL 8TH GRADE MALES:
Dependent Chess
Population Mean Chess vs. Norms
Independent Chess vs. Nonchess
Independent Chess vs. Computer
0.32
0.171
0.383
0.561
0.088
0.037
0.014
0.107
0.018
0.019
0.006
0.02
78
Conclusions
It is evident from the above tables and data that chess had a definite impact on developing
both critical and creative thinking skills. Because the sample size of the treatment group was only
15 students, the author would encourage replication of this study using a larger N.
It was also evident that there were significant gains in the participants' chess skills. Six of
the pupils involved in this study participated in the annual Pennsylvania State Scholastic
Championship beginning in 1980. Three of those six excelled. Two of the boys became candidate
masters and one of the girls made the top 50 list for all women chessplayers in the United States.
The project director concurs wholeheartedly with Dr. Stephen M. Schiff (1991), who
wrote: ". . . the study of chess is one of the most critically important additions to the curriculum
that schools can offer to our pre-adolescent gifted and talented student population." Based on the
results of Study I and others, this researcher urges the inclusion of chess in the curriculum to
augment the skills of the mentally gifted.
The USA Junior Chess Olympics Training Program used in each of Ferguson's studies
undeniably demonstrated effectiveness in bringing about the desired changes in the participating
students. This author would strongly recommend the adoption or adaptation of the USA Junior
Chess Olympics Training Program within the school curriculum throughout the country.
For Those Who Haven't Studied Statistics
"Tradition holds that the level of significance must be expressed as the probability that a
true null hypothesis is being rejected. That means that the lower the significance level, the higher
is our confidence that the effect we have observed is real." (Phillips, Statistical Thinking: A
Structural Approach, p. 85, 1973)
Some researchers hold that a probability of .1 (10%) is significant; however, in this study
and Ferguson's other research, a significant difference is equal to or less than .05 (often written
p<.05). A very significant difference is one for which the probability of having occurred by
sampling error is less than 1% (.01) and is frequently written p<.01. In the statistical summary
(Table 4), the significant and very significant levels have been bolded.
For Additional Information
The preceding material is a brief synopsis of the information found in a paper (200+ pages)
by Robert Ferguson entitled Teaching the Fourth "R" (Reflective Reasoning) Through Chess. If
you would like a more comprehensive review of this research and his other studies, send a check
for $39.95 payable to the American Chess School at the address below. All profits from the sale
of this publication are used to support chess in the schools.
American Chess School
140 School Street
Bradford, PA 16701
814-368-8009
www.amchess.org
79
80
Study III. The USA Junior Chess Olympics Research:
Developing Memory and Verbal Reasoning
During the 1987-88 investigation, all students in a sixth grade self-contained classroom at
M.J. Ryan School (a rural school about 18 miles from Bradford, PA, with a student enrollment of
116 in grades K-6) were required to participate in chess lessons and play games. None of the
pupils had previously played chess. This experiment was more intensified than Ferguson's other
studies because students played chess daily over the course of the project. The project ran from
September 21, 1987 to May 31, 1988.
The dependent variables were the gains on the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) Memory
subtest and the Verbal Reasoning subtest from the California Achievement Tests battery. The
differences from the pre and posttests were measured statistically using the t test of significance.
Gains on the tests were compared to national norms as well as within the treatment group. The
differences between males and females on the tests were also examined.
The mean IQ of the class participants was 104.6. All students were required to take
basically the same chess course (the USA Junior Chess Olympics Training Program) used in
Ferguson's first two studies. A total of 14 pupils (9 boys and 5 girls) completed both the pre and
posttests (TCS Memory test and Verbal Reasoning test).
Generally, students received chess lessons two or three times each week and played chess
daily. Many students competed in rated chess tournaments outside of school. Seven competed in
the PA Scholastic Chess Championship, and two went on to Nationals.
TCS MEMORY TEST SCORES FOR CHESS GROUP
C O M P A R IS O N O F P R E A N D P O S T T E S T S C O R E S
900
S
C
A
L
E
800
S
C
O
R
E
S
400
700
600
500
300
200
100
0
1 A 3 B u 4 C h 5 D 7 E s 8 Gr 9 Gr 10 H 12 J 13 M 14 O 15 R 16 S 18 W
S T U D E N T ID
POSTTEST
PRETEST
FIGURE 1. Comparison of pretest and posttest scores on the TCS Memory test
81
Results and Data Analysis
All scores reported for the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS) are listed as scale scores. Scores
have been converted from number correct scores to scale scores using conversion Table 3 in the
TCS Norms Book for level 3. According to the Norms Book, "The scale score is the basic score
for TCS. This score is especially appropriate for research studies and statistical analyses . . ."
As listed in the TCS Technical Report (1983), the mean scale score on the Memory test for
sixth graders across the nation is 591. The pretest mean score for the sixth grade students in this
study scored an average of 597.786. There is no significant variance between the norms and the
test group.
The posttest scale scores averaged 727.786 for a mean gain of 130 points. Inspection of
the scores in Figure 1 on the first page shows that all but one student demonstrated a gain. By
using Table 6 in the Norms Book, the project director calculated the mean pre and post percentile
ranks to be 59% and 91%, respectively, for a gain of 32%. This increased percentile score
indicates an above average performance.
An average student in the sixth grade scores at the 50th percentile on the subtests of the
TCS. If the student continues to grow in proficiency at an average rate throughout the year, that
student will again score at the 50th percentile in seventh grade. Considering that no percentile
gain is the norm, the chess group's gain of 32 in percentile score appears significant.
Because percentile scores are considered inappropriate for statistical analysis, the director
used the scale scores to perform the t test. The t test measures the quantity of the gain to assess
whether it is significant.
When comparing the treatment group to the sixth grade national norms, the obtained t
equals 5.926, which is statistically significant beyond the .001 level. Even when the researcher
compared the sixth graders' posttest results to those of the seventh grade norms, the t test resulted
in an obtained t=5.493, which is statistically significant beyond the .001 level. Thus the chances
are less than one in a thousand that these gains were due to chance.
TABLE A.
Dependent t test evaluating significance of gains on the TCS Memory
test by chess players
VARIABLE
Pretest Scores
Posttest Scores
Difference
130
NUMBER
MEAN
14
14
597.786
727.786
Standard
Error
t value
24.86
5.23
Significant beyond the .001 level
82
As listed in the TCS Technical Report, the mean scale score on the Verbal Reasoning test
for sixth graders across the nation is 578. The pretest mean score for the sixth grade students in
this study scored an average of 568.214. Although the scale score norms are nearly 10 points
higher for the national sample, there is no significant variance between the norms and the test
group.
By using Table 6 in the Norms Book, the project director calculated pre and post percentile
ranks to be 45% and 61%, respectively, for a gain of 16% (about half the increase noted on the
Memory test). Remembering that no increase in percentile score is the norm, it is possible to
conclude that the chess group's score does indicate an above average performance.
Because percentile scores are inappropriate for statistical analysis, the director used the
scale scores to perform the t test. The posttest scale scores averaged 620.714 for a mean gain of
52.5 points. The obtained t equals 4.018, which is statistically significant at the .002 level.
Review of the scores in the table below shows that there are only two chances in a thousand that
this result could have happened by coincidence.
TABLE B.
Dependent t test evaluating significance of gains on the TCS
Verbal Reasoning test by chess players
VARIABLE
NUMBER
MEAN
14
14
568.214
620.714
Standard
Error
t value
13.066
4.018
Pretest Scores
Posttest Scores
Difference
52.5
Significant at the .002 level
Table C.
Statistical summary of t tests for TCS
TABLES
MEMORY VERBAL REASONING
p<
p<
MALES & FEMALES COMBINED:
Dependent Chess Group
Population Mean Chess vs. National Norms
0.001
0.001
0.002
0.066
MALES:
Dependent Chess Group
Population Mean Chess vs. National Norms
0.001
0.001
0.01
0.128
FEMALES:
Dependent Chess Group
Population Mean Chess vs. National Norms
0.045
0.077
0.11
0.406
83
Conclusions
It is evident from the above tables and data that chess had a definite impact on developing
both memory and verbal reasoning skills. The effect of the magnitude of the results is strong (eta2
is .715 for the Memory test gain compared to the Norm). Because the sample size of the treatment
group was only 14 students, the author would encourage replication of this study.
It was also evident that there were significant gains in the participants' chess skills. Seven
of the boys involved in this study participated in the March 1988 Pennsylvania State Scholastic
Championship. After having played chess for only five months, they finished second (only half a
point behind Steve Shutt's nationally famous team from the Frederick-Douglass School in
Philadelphia). One pupil even made the top fifty list for his age group.
The project director concurs wholeheartedly with Dr. Stephen M. Schiff (1991), who
wrote: ". . . the study of chess is one of the most critically important additions to the curriculum
that schools can offer to our pre-adolescent gifted and talented student population." Based on the
results of Study III and others, this researcher urges the inclusion of chess to augment the skills of
both the gifted and the nongifted.
The USA Junior Chess Olympics Training Program used in each of Ferguson's studies
undeniably demonstrated effectiveness in bringing about the desired changes in the participating
students. This author would strongly recommend the adoption or adaptation of the USA Junior
Chess Olympics Training Program within the school curriculum throughout the country.
For Those Who Haven't Studied Statistics
"Tradition holds that the level of significance must be expressed as the probability that a
true null hypothesis is being rejected. That means that the lower the significance level, the higher
is our confidence that the effect we have observed is real." (Phillips, Statistical Thinking: A
Structural Approach, p. 85, 1973)
A significant difference is less than .05 (often written p<.05). A very significant
difference is one for which the probability of having occurred by sampling error is less than 1%
(.01) and is frequently written p<.01. In the statistical summary (Table C), the very significant
levels have been bolded.
For Additional Information
The above material is a brief synopsis of the information found in a paper (200+ pages) by
Robert Ferguson entitled Teaching the Fourth "R" (Reflective Reasoning) Through Chess. If you
would like a more comprehensive review of this research and his first two studies, send a check
for $39.95 payable to the American Chess School at the address below. All profits from the sale
of this publication are used to support chess in the schools.
American Chess School
140 School Street
Bradford, PA 16701
www.amchess.org
84
CHESS AND STANDARD TEST SCORES
James M. Liptrap, Chess Sponsor, Klein High School
Klein Independent School District, Spring, Texas, 1997
Published in Chess Life, March 1998, pages 41-43
SUMMARY: Regular (non-honors) Elementary students who participated in a school
Chess Club showed twice the improvement of non-chess players in Reading and
Mathematics between third and fifth grades on the Texas Assessment of Academic
Skills. In fifth grade, regular track chess players scored 4.3 TLI points higher in
Reading (p<.01) and 6.4 points higher in Math (p<.00001) than non-chess players.
The purpose of this study is to document the effect of participation in a chess club upon the
standardized test scores of elementary students. The study was conducted in four of the elementary
schools in a large suburban school district near Houston, Texas. It compared the third grade and fifth
grade scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) of students who participated in a
school chess club in fourth and/or fifth grade with the scores of students who did not participate in a
chess club. Significant improvement in Math and Reading scores were found among the Regular
track chess students.
BACKGROUND
Previous studies indicating the effects of chess on scholastic achievement have received little
notice, and have been criticized for small sample size, or for chess clubs being self-selective elite
groups, or for being too anecdotal. Many observations by teachers, parents, administrators, and
students report advantages of participation in chess, based principally upon improved self-image,
confidence, and critical thinking skills.
Reported in Developing Critical and Creative Thinking Through Chess, Robert Ferguson, of
Bradford, Pennsylvania, as part of the ESEA Title IV-C Explore Program tested students from
seventh to ninth grade, 1979-1983, and found:
Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal
(Average Annual Increase)
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
Fluency
Flexibility
Originality
Chess
17.3%
19.9
22.8
70.0
Non-Chess
4.6%
6.0
9.5
34.8
The mathematics curriculum in New Brunswick, Canada, is a text series called Challenging
Mathematics, which uses chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. Using this curriculum, the average
problem solving score of pupils in the Province increased from 62% to 81%.
Reports from students, teachers, and parents not only extol the academic benefits of chess on
math problem solving skills and reading comprehension, but increased self-confidence, patience,
memory, logic, critical thinking, observation, analysis, creativity, concentration, persistence,
self-control, sportsmanship, responsibility, respect for others, self esteem, coping with frustration,
and many other positive influences which are difficult to measure but can make a great difference in
student attitude, motivation, and achievement.
85
SCHOOLS SURVEYED
The four elementary schools surveyed serve affluent and middle class neighborhoods. The 571
students completing fifth grade in 1997 were 11% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 6% Black, 1% Ethnic
American, and 71% "Other." The sample was 11.7% Chess Players (67), 88.3% non-Chess (504).
Comparing the groups:
(Percent)
Male
Female
SE
Reg
AA
GT
Overall
50.8
49.2
13.1
53.4
14.9
18.6
Chess
74.6
25.4
13.4
34.3
20.9
31.4
SE - Special Education students, Reg - Regular students, AA -Academically Able students judged
upon a matrix of IQ and achievement, GT - Gifted and Talented students, the top-performing
students judged by a similar matrix. It can be noted that the chess group is 3:1 male and has a higher
percentage of AA and GT students. The objection that this constitutes a self-selective elite group is
answered by considering the four tracks separately.
The schools were selected because of established chess clubs of at least two years, but no chess
instruction during school hours. Schools ranged in enrollment from 707 to 979 in grades K to 5, with
chess clubs ranging from 35 to 80 in weekly attendance. One school restricted club membership to
fourth and fifth grade students, the others third to fifth, with younger students allowed only if their
parents were assisting. Clubs met for one hour after school one day per week. In one school, the
faculty sponsor teaches chess to club members. At the other schools, parents coordinate the program.
All of the clubs could use more adult workers, and especially faculty involvement. There has to
date been no School District funding of chess activity and no compensation to faculty for their time.
Chess equipment, consisting of boards and sets, have been contributed by Parent-Teacher Organizations, a small amount of School Activity funds, or are borrowed from the High School Club. Some
students bring their own sets from home, and the only chess clocks available belong to students. Sets
range from the $3.99 hollow plastic set from discount stores to tournament quality plastic sets
available for $10 from a local tournament director. Expensive wooden sets are not practical for school
use. Chess clocks start at $40 each.
TAAS
The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills has been administered since 1990. It currently consists
of Reading and Math Tests in Grades 3 through 8 and 10 (Exit Level); Writing at Grades 4, 8, and 10
(Exit Level); Science and Social Studies at Grade 8. The focus is on assessing the instructional targets
delineated in the essential elements, the state-mandated curriculum, and on higher-order thinking skills
and problem-solving ability. The Texas Learning Index (TLI) allows for comparison across years and
across grades. The minimum expectations score of 70 represents the same amount of achievement at
each grade level. Thus a student with a Math TLI of 3-70 (Grade 3) and 5-70 (Grade 5) would have
shown a typical improvement in Math from third to fifth grade. A student with a Reading TLI of 3- 80
and 5-85 Would have shown more than two years' typical improvement in reading between the third
grade test and the fifth grade test.
METHOD
For this survey, TAAS TLI scores for Reading and Math at grades 3 and 5, Placement, and Sex
information were obtained for all fifth graders at each of the four schools. The School Chess
sponsors provided lists of the students who had participated in Chess Club during fourth and/or fifth
grade. The definition of "participated in" was left to the sponsor. The question of how much
participation would produce any effect was not addressed. The data was compiled and averaged.
86
RESULTS
Average TLI Scores
Total
Male
Female
Spec-Ed
Regular
A.A.
G.T.
Chess Players
Reading
Mathematics
3-86.5
5-92.1
3-81.7
5-87.3
3-87.0
5-92.6
3-82.3
5-87.4
3-85.1
5-90.9
3-79.7
5-86.8
3-84.1
5-90.6
3-76.7
5-85.1
3-79.5
5-89.4
3-77.6
5-85.7
3-89.6
5-94.3
3-85.6
5-88.6
3-91.3
5-95.9
3-85.6
5-90.7
Total
Male
Female
Spec-Ed
Regular
A.A.
G.T.
Non-Chess Players
Reading
Mathematics
3-83.1
5-87.4
3-77.2
5-81.8
3-82.0
5-86.4
3-76.8
5-81.0
3-83.9
5-88.3
3-77.6
5-82.5
3-73.5
5-77.5
3-68.2
5-74.6
3-80.6
5-85.1
3-73.9
5-79.3
3-88.5
5-94.6
3-84.7
5-88.4
3-91.7
5-96.6
3-86.9
5-89.6
Increase in Average TLI Scores
Chess Players
Non-Chess Players
Reading
Mathematics
Reading
Mathematics
5.6
5.6
4.3
4.6
5.6
5.1
4.4
4.2
5.8
7.1
4.4
4.9
6.5
9.4
4.0
6.4
9.9
8.1
4.5
5.4
4.7
3.0
6.1
3.7
4.6
5.1
4.9
2.7
Third Grade
Fifth Grade
t-Test of Statistical Significance for Regular Students
Comparing Regular-Track Chess vs Non-Chess Students
Reading
Mathematics
t = .3956 p = .6958
t = 2.041
p = .05078
t = 2.809 p = .008657
t = 5.232
p = .000006155
Fifth Grade
t-Test of Statistical Significance for Special-Ed Students
Comparing Special-Ed Chess vs Non-Chess Students
Reading
Mathematics
t = 4.228
p = .0001235
t = 3.681
p = .00119
ANALYSIS
The largest difference in the amount of improvement in TLI scores from third to fifth grade was
among the Regular students. In this group, the chess players showed significant improvement
compared to non-chess players. The statistical t-test showed that in third grade reading, there was no
difference between the Chess and Non-chess groups, but by fifth grade, the difference is "highly
significant" (p<.01). In mathematics, the chess group was very marginally distinguished from the
non-chess in third grade (p=.05), but by fifth grade was clearly a different population (null-hypothesis
rejected at p<.00001).
Among Special Education students, the effect was not as great, but was probably statistically
significant (Reading p=.0001235, Math p=.00119) except for the small sample (9 chess players).
Anecdotal reports concerning Special Education Chess Players stress increased self-esteem and
confidence, primary objectives for these students. The results for AA and GT students are mixed.
But their TLI scores in the upper 80's and 90's have less room to show improvement.
87
Regular track fifth grade chess players scored 4.3 TLI points higher in Reading (p<.0l) and 6.4
points higher in Mathematics (p<.00001) than non-chess players.
RECOMMENDATIONS
School Chess Clubs should be encouraged at Elementary, Middle School, and High School
levels, open to all students; modest funding or fundraising opportunities to provide equipment and
travel to tournaments should be provided; and faculty sponsors should receive some token
compensation for their extra time and effort. Parent involvement is essential in Elementary Clubs and
highly desirable in Middle School Clubs, for instruction, crowd control, and transportation.
While chess should never substitute for instruction in school subjects, it would make a
worthwhile enrichment or supplement activity, particularly for the "Regular" students. Some teachers
report success using chess as an incentive, as in "Settle down and finish this history lesson, and then
you can play chess."
Funding for chess activity is available under the "Educate America Act" (Goals 2000), Public Law
103-227, Section 308.b.2.E.
"Supporting innovative and proven methods of enhancing a teacher's ability to
identify student learning needs and motivating students to develop higher order
thinking skills, discipline, and creative resolution methods."
The original wording of this section included "such as chess" and passed both houses of Congress that
way. But the phrase was deleted later in Conference Committee.
Some In-service training of Elementary teaching staff would be necessary, as few teachers have
much background in chess, and most have great fear of chess. But the rules are not difficult and can
be learned quickly. And the sponsor does NOT need to be an experienced player. Inexpensive
beginners' books on basic strategy are available and appropriate for the elementary level. Students
who "catch on" and want more instruction can find it at a High School Club or a local Adult Club.
Additional practice is available at weekend tournaments, some of them scholastic tournaments
offering school trophies.
88
CHESS AND APTITUDES - SUMMARY
ALBERT FRANK
I very briefly introduce you herewith to an experiment performed… 26 years
ago.
Very often we hear such wordings as « You need to be intelligent to play
chess », « Chess fosters intelligence », … All this is too vague…
In 1973, in co-operation with the Psychology Department of the "Université
Nationale du Zaïre" at Kisangani, I undertook an experiment so as to clarify
matters.
It should first be noticed that almost everywhere there is a facultative
teaching of Chess in primary and secondary schools. A result of this «
facultative » feature is that it is extremely difficult to produce unbiased
statistical studies.
In a first stage, I received from the Government of Zaire permission to
REPLACE, during a year, in three classes of the fourth year (I take the
current Belgian denomination) in a major secondary school of Kisangani, two
out of seven hours of mathematics a week by two hours of chess teaching.
The six classes of the fourth year in this institution, each 30 students, were
divided into two groups : 3 classes in the « experimental » A-group ; 3
others in the « control » B-group.
I was able to administer the following tests :
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
the Belgian version of the G.A.T.B. (« General Aptitude Test
Battery »)
the P.M.A. (« Primary mental abilities » by Thurstone)
the D.A.T. (« Differential Aptitude Test » by Bennet, Seashore
and Wesman )
the D2 (Brieckenkamp)
the Rorschach.
89
Some preliminary remarks should be made before going over to the description of the
experiment :
- Knowing in which measure the used tests were culturally adapted to the tested persons is
not absolutely fundamental, since the aim was to compare groups A and B.
• NO student of both groups had ever heard about chess, which is very useful to eliminate
parasites.
• Ideally, there should have been a third group with another learning … but you can’t have it all
!
• The seven weekly teaching hours (mathematics + chess for the A-group, mathematics only for
the B-group) were given by Frenchspeaking teachers – in casu, two Belgian teachers for
mathematics and myself for chess.
Experiment phases :
1. At the beginning of the year, all students (A and B groups) were administered the various
tests. Both groups scored analogously.
2. Whereas group B is normally taught mathematics (7 hours a week), group A is given the
same programme in five hours a week and receives two hours of chess (Wednesday 11-12
a.m. and Saturday 7-8 a.m.). Chess lessons, as with others lectures, also contain tests and
exams counting for a coefficient of 2/7 of mathematics ( mathematics counting for 5/7 of
the total coefficient).
3. At the end of the year, all students of both groups were given the various tests again. The
students of the experimental groups furthermore took an exam to test the chess level
reached. The items of this exam were mostly written by Doctor Max EUWE, former chess
world champion and chairman of the F.I.D.E. (« Fédération internationale du Jeu
d’Echecs).
The « verdict » is brought in : among tested aptitudes, two show significant differences in
favour of the experimental group : the arithmetical aptitude, with a threshold of .O5 and
"verbal logic " (most often measured by the identification of synonyms or antonyms) with a
threshold of .O1.
These original findings answered the questions raised before the experimentation. But why
verbal logic ? …
There is still no answer.
4. The experiment also enabled us to answer questions with a view to delineating, taking the
results of the aptitude test into account, the ability to enhance chess performance… but this
is beyond the scope of this summary.
5. The students of both groups received special attention till the end of their secondary studies,
i.e. two years after the end of the experiment. The students of the experimental group
obtained significantly better results, foremost in mathematics and French.
The complete study is given in the book « CHESS AND APTITUDES », Albert Frank,
American Chess Foundation, December 1978.
A technical summary (in French) has been published under the title « Aptitudes et
apprentissage du jeu d’échecs au Zaïre » in the magazine ‘Psychopathologie Africaine »,
1979, XV, 1, 81-98.
90
The Role of Chess in Modern Education
By Marcel Milat
According to Murray, Chess originated at the end of sixth century in India. The
game was different then, elephants replacing the present day rooks and peasants
replacing pawns. The "firzan" now known as the queen could only move
diagonally one square at a time. Still, the basic elements of modern chess were
present: the game was played on an eight by eight board with pieces and the sole
goal being to checkmate the opposing king.
The game of chess has been dominated by Russians for nearly 70 years. With the
exception of Bobby Fischer who won the world championship in 1972 and
relinquished it in 1975 the past 11 world champions have been of Russian decent.
Why are Russians the dominant figures in world chess?
Chess has been part of the curriculum for most Russian schools for over 40 years.
Adolescents were encouraged to play chess at a very early age to increase their
problem solving and reasoning skills. The gifted students were chosen and studied
under the supervision of former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.
Adrian de Groot, a psychologist in the 1960's became very interested in the use of
chess as an educational tool. He began studying the thinking behavior of chess
players in Russia. In particular he observed that there was a significant difference
approach between those who highly skilled and experienced in chess to those who
were new to the game. Initially de Groot assumed that the Grandmaster's
superiority lay in their ability to organize well and to memorize concrete lines of
play. What de Groot found was quite different: Grandmasters did not rely on
superior memory skills. Grandmasters were not any better at recalling randomly
placed pieces than novice chess players were. The Grandmaster however was able
to take actual chess positions and in an astonishing 5 seconds recognize a
complex chess configuration and decide on a successful move. How were the
GM's able to give accurate, well thought out evaluations in so little time? It
seemed that GM's (but not novices) were able to recognize familiar
configurations, and associating them with appropriate moves and plans.
Recent research in the late seventies and early eighties in the US has confirmed
these findings. Researchers concluded that meaningful knowledge is stored in
memory in the form of networks and patterns, and these patterns provide the roots
essential for recall. Thus the expert and GM players were able to remember and
recognize chunks of information. In chess these chunks are visual representations
in which particular configurations are recognized. These relate to and often cue
prior successful responses or pattern responses. What is an involved long
sequence of decision making of information for novices, is processed by experts
in "one go". It seems that other experts such as dancers, athletes and musicians
91
operate mentally in much the same way. Responses are efficient and fast as
understanding and experience are recognized and recalled in the essential
structure of the activity. It seems that chess players develop complex but efficient
structures for memory storage and management.
One of the essential goals of education is to teach children to think critically:
students must learn to make reasoned judgments. Chess is an excellent tool to
demonstrate the theme of critical thinking. During a game a player must formulate
a plan of attack or defense.
The formulation of a plan entails that the player must not only reflect on how
similar problems are solved (searching a database of previous knowledge) but
also the player must perform a systematic checking of possible combinations of
moves and then arrive at an evaluation of each line. The process is a mental
exercise where pieces are envisioned to be moving from square to square and the
player reflects on the characteristics of the position to finally produce a reasoned
outcome (move). This is precisely the definition of critical thinking. WatsonGlaser appraised the value of chess as a learning tool and showed overwhelmingly
"that chess improved critical thinking skills more than the other methods of
enrichment." Included in the study were future problem solving, problem solving
with computers, independent study, creative writing and fantasy games like
Dungeons & Dragons.
An important element of critical thinking in chess is the evaluation process where
the strength of one's position is assessed . Beginners who play chess (and early
computer programs) place significant emphasis on material -- reasoning that "the
player with more material will win by sheer numbers". If only chess was that
simple. Material plays a central role in winning a chess game but many more
ideas are needed for a useful evaluation of a position. More advanced players find
a balance: included in their evaluation processes are the ideas of central control,
pawn structure, material, space, maneuverability, king safety, initiative and
development of pieces. The brain has internalized these values allowing the player
to make a reasoned judgment of which particular themes are critical in evaluating
his or her own position.
Mathematicians have estimated that there are approximately 10^50 possible
unique games of chess playable. Thus chess will never become just a repetition of
previously played moves. So how can a player possibly make a decision as to
which plan to choose with so many possible choices? Even with complicated
evaluative techniques, choosing the best plan can be very difficult. The chess
player must often must rely on intuition. The best chess players are often those
who have an acute feel or intuition for which move is correct. This can be a useful
tool in education. Intuition is generally undervalued in educational terms but can
be a very useful tool in both problem solving and real life applications when the
steps to solve a problem are not easily apparent.
92
Are there links between mathematics and chess? Chess players are often
considered mathematically oriented and there are obvious similarities as chess is a
game of problem solving, evaluation, critical thinking, intuition and planning -much like the study of mathematics. Studies have shown that students playing
chess have increased problem solving skills over their peers. Researcher suggests
that while students playing chess learn concepts through physical and visual
stimuli and correlate these concepts to cognitive patterns, mathematics in the
classroom usually involves only pure symbolic manipulation. Thus there seems to
be some evidence to suggest that chess acts as a sort of link in connecting form
(symbolic) with understanding (physical and visual).
In the early 80's Faneuil Adams became president of the American Chess
Foundation (ACF). Adams was convinced that chess was an excellent learning
tool for the adolescent, especially the disadvantaged. The ACF embarked on the
Chess in Schools Program which focused on New York's Harlem School district.
Initially the program was focused on improving math skills for adolescents
through improved critical thinking and problem solving skills. This was achieved
as "test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes,
compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of enriched
activities."
Also noted was that many students social habits improved when playing chess.
The game allows for students of dissimilar backgrounds to integrate with others.
Many disadvantaged or special education students are becoming actively involved
in chess programs as the value of chess as a social tool is further explored.
Advocates of chess are hoping that some of New York's gang related problems
will be solved as children and students play chess in their spare time instead of
becoming involved with gang related activities. Thus chess steers youth away
from trouble by keeping them off the streets as well as being a useful learning
tool.
Jerome Fishman, Guidance Counselor, Queens, NY says: "I like the aspect of
socialization. You get into a friendly, competitive activity where no one gets hurt.
Instead of two bodies slamming into each other like football, you have the
meeting of two minds. Aside from developing cognitive skills, chess develops
their social skills. It makes them feel they belong. Whenever we get a child
transferred from another school who may have maladaptive behavior, we suggest
chess as a way of helping him find his niche. The kids become better friends when
after the game they analyze possible combinations ... we have kids literally lining
up in front of the school at 6:45am to get a little chess in before class."
Principal Jo Bruno , Brooklyn, NY : "In chess tournaments the child gets the
opportunity of seeing more variety and diversity. There are kids who have more
money than they have, but chess is a common denominator. They are all equal on
the chessboard. I believe it is connected academically and to the intellectual
development of children. I see the kids able to attend to something for more than
93
an hour and a half. I am stunned. Some of them could not attend to things for
more than 20 minutes." Bruno brings up the important point that chess can focus
kids into concentrating on a task for long periods of time. Why is this? The author
believes that many adolescents find chess fun and exciting. This corresponds to
the youths playing (learning) for long periods of time without distraction.
Dr. Stuart Margulies, a researcher for IBM, stated that he "conclusively proved
that students who learned chess enjoyed a significant increase in their reading
ability". Dr. Margulies does not explain why he believes there is a correlation
between chess and increased reading skills but it is the author's opinion that chess
develops cognitive and attention skills. Furthermore, chess forces adolescents to
visualize concepts and piece movement. This may allow for better visualization
(interpretive) skills when reading.
Where is chess education headed? In the United States a major scholastic effort is
underway to incorporate chess into the elementary school setting by the USCF,
the US Chess Trust, the AFC and thousands of teachers and volunteers. The
USCF scholastic magazine School Mates has over 20,000 copies in circulation
each month. Rosalyn Katz of New Jersey spearheaded a movement for scholastic
chess volunteers to change the legislation for teaching chess in schools in the state
of New York. Katz managed to pass to bills in senate: Bill #S452 and #A1122.
The bills read :
"An act concerning instruction in chess and supplementing Chapter 35 of Title
18A of the New Jersey Statutes. Be it enacted by the Senate and General
Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
•
•
•
1) The Legislature finds and declares that:
o a) chess increases strategic thinking skills, stimulates intellectual
creativity, and improves problem-solving ability, while raising
self-esteem;
o b) when youngsters play chess they must call upon higher-order
thinking skills, analyze actions and consequences, and visualize
future possibilities;
o c) in countries where chess is offered widely in schools, students
exhibit excellence in the ability to recognize complex patterns and
consequently excel in math and science; and
o d) instruction in chess during the second grade will enable pupils
to learn skills which will serve them throughout their lives.
2) Each board of education may offer instruction in chess during the
second grade for pupils in gifted and talented and special education
programs. The department of Education may establish guidelines to be
used by boards of education which offer chess instruction in those
programs.
3) This act shall be made effective immediately.
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The Province of Quebec has followed suit and also has programs in place
where schools teach chess at the elementary level. Instructors are often
professional chess players hired by the school board to teach part-time
during the week. British Columbia has no official legislation regarding
chess as an active learning tool but the author believes that it is only a
matter of time until a comprehensive uniform stance is taken by the
province on chess in the classroom. At present chess is taught at few
schools in Vancouver, mostly under volunteer supervision. Lynn Stringer
currently volunteers many hours starting chess programs in many
Vancouver Island schools. As pressure grows from parents interested in
better educational programs the author expects chess programs will be
introduced province-wide in the near future . This will result in a greater
demand for qualified people with the necessary skills to teach chess.
Yasser Seirawan, US Grandmaster, said that, "Chess must no longer
remain a civilized luxury of the leisure class in either appearance or fact;
rather, chess must assume its fundamental role as a mental integrator and
motivational activator. The hard scrabble nature of chess is equal to the
task; are we equal to its full scholastic implementation?"
Bibliography
•
•
•
•
Long, Eleanor (1991). Secrets of the Grandmaster. AustralianMathematics Journal, 2, 24-27.
Marjoram, D (1987). Chess and Gifted Children. Gifted EducationInternational, 5, n(1), 48-51.
Palm, Christine (1994). Scholastics: Chess Improves Academic
Performance. Northwest Chess, 10, 1, 3
Seirawan, Yasser (1994). Scholastic Chess - Feel the Buzz? Inside Chess,
5, n(4), 3-4.
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Chess in the Math Curriculum
One of the most important educational goals is to teach children to think
critically, to make judgements. Chess helps them do that during a game a
player, must formulate a plan of attack or defense.
A player has to reflect on the problem to be solved which means he/she searches a
database, their brain, for previous knowledge. Then they have to systematically check all
the combinations of moves and decide on the best course of action. This is a mental
exercise we all try to give our kids, teachers and parents it's critical thinking that can be
used in other areas of a kid's life, academics and social situations.
Mathematicians have estimated that there are approximately 10 to the power of 50 of
possible unique games of chess playable. Repetition is virtually impossible once a player
reaches a certain level. Are there links between mathematics and chess? Chess players are
often considered mathematically oriented and there are obvious similarities as chess is a
game of problem solving, evaluation, critical thinking, intuition and planning much like the
study of mathematics. Studies have shown that students playing chess have increased
problem solving skills over their peers. Research suggests that while students playing chess
learn concepts through physical and visual stimuli and correlate these concepts to cognitive
patterns, mathematics in the classroom usually involves only pure symbolic manipulation.
Thus there seems to be some evidence to suggest that chess acts as a sort of link in
connecting form (symbolic) with understanding (physical and visual).
In the early 80's Faneuil Adams became president of the American Chess Foundation (ACF).
Adams was convinced that chess was an excellent learning tool for the adolescent,
especially the disadvantaged. The ACF embarked on the Chess in Schools Program which
focused on New York's Harlem School district. Initially the program was focused on
improving math skills for adolescents through improved critical thinking and problem solving
skills. This was achieved as "test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged
in chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of
enriched activities."
Also noted was that many students' social habits improved when playing chess. The game
allows for students of dissimilar backgrounds to integrate with others. Many disadvantaged
or special education students are becoming actively involved in chess programs as the value
of chess as a social tool is further explored.
Jerome Fishman, Guidance Counselor, Queens, NY says: "I like the aspect of socialization.
You get into a friendly, competitive activity where no one gets hurt. Instead of two bodies
slamming into each other like football, you have the meeting of two minds. Aside from
developing cognitive skills, chess develops their social skills. It makes them feel they
belong. Whenever we get a child transferred from another school who may have
maladaptive behavior, we suggest chess as a way of helping him find his niche. The kids
become better friends when after the game they analyze possible combinations ... we have
kids literally lining up in front of the school at 6:45am to get a little chess in before class."
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Principal Jo Bruno , Brooklyn, NY : "In chess tournaments the child gets the opportunity of
seeing more variety and diversity. There are kids who have more money than they have,
but chess is a common denominator. They are all equal on the chessboard. I believe it is
connected academically and to the intellectual development of children. I see the kids able
to attend to something for more than an hour and a half. I am stunned. Some of them could
not attend to things for more than 20 minutes." Bruno brings up the important point that
chess can focus kids into concentrating on a task for long periods of time. Why is this? Many
adolescents find chess fun and exciting.
Where is chess education headed? In the United States a major scholastic effort is
underway to incorporate chess into the elementary school setting by the USCF, the US
Chess Trust, the AFC and thousands of teachers and volunteers. The USCF scholastic
magazine School Mates has over 20,000 copies in circulation each month. Rosalyn Katz of
New Jersey spearheaded a movement for scholastic chess volunteers to change the
legislation for teaching chess in schools in the state of New Jersey. Katz managed to pass to
bills in senate
The Province of Quebec also has programs in place where schools teach chess at the
elementary level. Instructors are often professional chess players hired by the school board
to teach part-time during the week. British Columbia has no official legislation regarding
chess as an active learning tool but it's only a matter of time until a comprehensive uniform
stance is taken by the province on chess in the classroom. At present chess is taught at few
schools in Vancouver, mostly under volunteer supervision. Lynn Stringer has been
instrumental in setting up chess programs in many Vancouver Island schools. Greg Churchill
began teaching classes in Victoria schools last year. As pressure grows from parents
interested in better educational programs it seems inevitable that chess programs will be
introduced province-wide in the near future. This will result in a greater demand for
qualified people with the necessary skills to teach chess.
In a Texas study, regular (non-honours) elementary students who participated in a school
chess club showed twice the improvement of non-chessplayers in Reading and Mathematics
between third and fifth grades on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.
A New Brunswick study, using 437 fifth graders split into three groups, experimenting with
the addition of chess to the math curriculum, found increased gains in math problem-solving
and comprehension proportionate to the amount of chess in the curriculum.
In a Zaire study conducted by Dr. Albert Frank, employing 92 students, age 16-18, the
chess-playing experimental group showed a significant advancement in spatial, numerical
and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes, compared to the control
group. The improvements held true regardless of the final chess skill level attained.
In a Belgium study a chess-playing experimental group of fifth graders experienced a
statistically significant gain in cognitive development over a control group. Perhaps more
noteworthy, they also did significantly better in their regular school testing, as well as in
standardized testing administered by an outside agency which did not know the identity of
the two groups. Quoting Dr. Adriaan de Groot: "In addition, the Belgium study appears to
demonstrate that the treatment of the elementary, clearcut and playful subject matter can
have a positive effect on motivation and school achievement generally..."
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A four-year USA study, though not deemed statistically stable due to a small (15 students)
experimental group, has the chess-playing experimental group consistently outperforming
the control groups engaged in other thinking development programs, using measurements
from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative
Thinking.
The Venezuela "Learning to Think Project", which trained 100,000 teachers to teach thinking
skills, and which involved a sample of 4,266 second grade students, reached a general
conclusion that chess, methodologically taught, is an incentive system suffficient to
accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children of both sexes at all socio-economic
levels.
A study using a sub-set of the New York City Schools Chess Program produced statistically
significant results concluding that chess participation enhances reading performance. A
related study, conducted in five U.S. cities over two years, selected two classrooms in each
of five schools. The group receiving instruction in chess and logic obtained significantly
higher reading scores than the control groups, which received additional classroom
instruction in basic education (reading, math or social studies).
FACTS
Chess is found as required curricula in nearly 30 countries.
In Vancouver B.C. the Math and Chess Learning Center, recognizing the correlation between
chess playing and math skills development, has developed a series of workbooks to assist
(Canadian) students in math.
The mathematics curriculum in New Brunswick is using a text series called "Challenging
Mathematics" which uses chess to teach logic from grades 2 to 7. Using this curriculum, the
average problem-solving score of pupils in the province increased from 62% to 81%. The
Province of Quebec, where the program was first introduced, has the best math marks in
Canada and Canada scores better than the U.S.A. on international mathematics exams.
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell encourages knowledge of chess as a way to
develop a preschooler's intellect and academic readiness.
The State of New Jersey passed a bill legitimizing chess as a unit of instruction within the
elementary school curriculum. A quote from the bill states "In countries where chess is
offered widely in schools, students exhibit excellence in the ability to recognize complex
patterns and consequently excel in math and science..."
And remember, in these days of shrinking budgets and tight-fisted provincial politicians
chess is low-tech and relatively low-cost!
********************
Much of this was taken from http://ourworld.cs.com/kaech5/benefits.html and other
websites. I have cross-referenced the studies before -- especially the Canadian ones -- all of
this can be backed up. The US Chess Federation actually has a lot of studies you can buy
copies of at a low price.
- Jude Isabella, Editor of YesMag, Canada's Science magazine for kids.
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100
Chess, Anyone? -- Chess As an Essential
Teaching Tool
Each week, an educator takes a stand or shares an Aha! moment in
the classroom in Education World’s Voice of Experience column. This
week, educator Brenda Dyck contemplates whether smart kids play
chess or chess makes kids smart. Dyck considers the integration of
chess into classroom learning and ponders the thinking byproducts
of playing chess. Included: Links to resources and research about
the impact of chess on students’ skills, thinking abilities, and selfesteem.
One of the things I've noticed while working with gifted
and talented students is their love for the game of chess.
When I mention this to their teachers, they tell me that
gifted students are intrigued by the analysis and
strategizing that goes along with the game. They tell me
that chess has been an ever-present part of their
schooling from the very beginning; most classrooms have
a number of chessboards, and the kids start up a game at
any opportunity -- even for 15 minutes!
Some students are more serious about chess than others,
but most jump at the chance to play. A chess club for
students ages 8 to 15 meets once a week in the library.
To witness the club -- with its 15 or 20 members engaged
in thoughtful focus -- is a sight to see! (Without a doubt, it
is one of the quietest lunch hour clubs I've ever
witnessed.) Some of the students are serious enough about the game to compete
outside of school. In fact, one of my grade 7 students was a regional champion in
our province.
CHESS AS PART OF THE CURRICULUM?
After learning that the U.S. Chess Federation pledges that “Chess Makes Kids Smart," I
found myself wondering if smart kids play chess or if chess really makes kids smart. Could
this game be a key in our ongoing search to strengthen the thinking skills of 21st century
learners?
Last summer, I did some reading about other schools where educators are asking the same
questions. To my surprise, I learned that chess is being taught to more than 130,000
Canadian students -- some as young as second grade -- as part of their regular math
program!
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At Marina (California) Junior High School, teachers discovered that students’ academic
performance improved dramatically after only 20 days of chess instruction. George L.
Stephenson, chairman of the school’s math department, reported that “55 percent of
students showed significant improvement in academic performance after this brief
smattering of chess instruction.”
It seems that scheduling chess as part of a regular math program is about more than
entertainment. The initiative is supported by studies that maintain chess’s ability to improve
the cognitive abilities, rational thinking, and reasoning abilities of even weak learners.
MORE THAN A GAME
In Virginia, math teacher and chess-club sponsor Jan Brandt recently explained to me that
chess is "probably the best game there is for developing logical, precise thinking." Ms.
Brandt believes that chess encourages “patience, sharp memory, the ability to concentrate,
problem solving skills, and the understanding that certain behaviors carry certain
consequences.” In addition, chess:
•
•
•
•
•
demands both inductive and deductive reasoning.
requires students to look at a problem, break it down, and then put the whole thing
back together.
involves recall, analysis, judgment, and abstract reasoning.
improves decision-making skills.
increases players’ self-confidence and improves organizational habits.
All this information got me thinking. If research shows a connection between chess skills
and improved reading and math scores, problem-solving ability, concentration, courtesy,
responsibility, and self-esteem, then why aren't we all tapping into this multifaceted, costefficient critical thinking tool?
As we continue to look for ways to expand our students’ critical thinking
ability, could it be that some of the secrets to pushing student thinking and
improving academic ability reside in a game that dates back to 531 AD?
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Further Resources
Hall, Ralph L. “Why Chess in the Schools” RIE (Oregon), April 1984.
The game of chess is recommended as a school activity. In addition to requiring that
individuals become actively involved in a mentally demanding competition, its effects
are stimulating, wholesome, and healthy. Several benefits accrue from the teaching and
promoting of chess in schools. Chess limits the element of luck (teaching the importance
of planning), requires that reason be coordinated with instinct (it is an effective decisionteaching activity), is an endless source of satisfaction (the better one plays, the more
rewarding it becomes), and it is a highly organized recreational activity with clubs
(leagues, team play) and elaborate systems of local, national, and international
governance. In addition, chess is an international language such that players will find a
friendly reception in any of the thousands of chess clubs throughout the world. A brief
description of the game, comments on its appeal, and techniques to support chess in
schools are provided. Techniques suggested include providing opportunities to learn and
practice chess in clubs, intramural competition, credit/non-credit classes, and in teams
which represent the school in inter-school competition.
Horgan, D., David Morgan. “Experience, Spatial Abilities, and Chess Skills”, Paper presented at
the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association (Atlanta, GA Aug. 12-16, 1988)
A study examined chess expertise in 113 children in grades 1-12 who played
competitive chess. Specific attention was given to the relationship between experience,
as measured by number of games played, and skill, as measured by national chess
ratings. For the top 15 players, emphasis was placed on relationships among chess skill,
spatial abilities, and logical ability. Spatial abilities were measured by the Ravens
Progressive Matrices and the Knight's Tour, while logical ability was measured by a
Piagetian task. Findings indicated that improvement in skill was related to experience.
Spatial abilities appeared to be more important than logical abilities to skill in chess.
Smith, J., Monty Sullivan, “The Effects of Chess Instruction on Students' Level of Field
Dependence/Independence”, Paper presented At the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South
Educational Research Association (26th, Memphis, TN, Nov. 12-14, 1997).
A study was conducted to determine whether chess instruction would change the
measure of a student's field-dependence or field-independence as determined by the
Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) in the direction of stronger field independence.
Field dependence/independence is a psychological construct referring to a global versus
an analytical way of perceiving that entails the ability to perceive items without being
influenced by the background. This was done by comparing the results of pretest and
posttest scores on the GEFT for 11 African-American high school students (four males,
seven females) in a rural northern Louisiana school. These students had received
approximately 50 hours of direct chess instruction and playing experience. Chess
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instruction did have a significant effect on GEFT scores for females, but not male,
students. Whether this might transfer to improved mathematics achievement is beyond
the scope of this study, but it is a problem worth investigating. It is logical to surmise
that whatever skill chess instruction enhanced for females may have already been
present for males.
Feldhusen, J.F., Philip J. Rifner, “Checkmate: Capturing Gifted Students’ Logical Thinking
Using Chess” Gifted Child Today Magazine, v20n1p36-39, 48 Jan-Feb 1997.
Describes the use of chess instruction to develop abstract thinking skills and problem
solving among gifted students. Offers suggestions for starting school chess programs,
teaching and evaluating chess skills, and measuring the success of both student-players
and the program in general.
Horgan, D., et al. “Abstract Schemas in Children’s Chess Cognition”, Paper published at the
Conference of Human Development (Nashville, TN April 3-5, 1986)
The nature and development of semantic processing in chess was investigated in a study
involving younger players from 6 through 18 years of age. Efforts were directed toward
establishing the assertion that skilled players' memory for chess positions depends
largely upon the availability of pre-stored schema (PSS) that are both abstract and
semantically organized. Subjects were players at the 1985 Tennessee Scholastic Chess
Championship who had ratings of 1100 or above. In the first experiment, a total of 46
subjects participated in a midgame task and 48 participated in an endgame task. Subjects
were shown target boards for 10 seconds, read accompanying context descriptions when
appropriate, and reconstructed from memory as much of the display as possible.
Performance was measured by number of correctly placed pieces. In a second
experiment, subjects were shown midgame positions they had viewed previously and
were asked to reconstruct them, looking at the displayed model as often as necessary.
Taken together, data from the memory and reconstruction tasks lend strong support to
the general hypothesis that abstract, semantically organized PSSs are an important
component of chess cognition, and to several special cases of that hypothesis. Data also
disclosed age-related qualitative differences in the cognitive mechanisms for
constructing representations of briefly presented chess positions.
Cage, B., James Smith. “The Effects of Chess Instruction on Mathematics Achievement of
Southern, Rural, Black, Secondary Students”, Research in the Schools vol 7n1p19-26 Spr2000.
Studied the effects of 120 hours of chess instruction on the mathematics achievement of
southern, rural, black secondary students. Analysis of covariance results show the
treatment group (11 females, 9 males) scored significantly higher than the control group
(10 females, 10 males) in mathematics achievement. Discusses results in terms of
altering students' perceptual ability.
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